We Are Salt of the Earth
Sunday’s Verse:
From Matthew 5:13 ESV
(Jesus said) “You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet.”
Jesus doesn’t say, “Be salt-y. Try harder.” Jesus simply says, “You are salt.” That matters.
Saltiness isn’t something we earn by good behavior or strong faith. Our saltiness is a gift we have because we belong to Christ.
Salt preserves. Salt flavors. In the same way, God has placed Christians into everyday locations—homes, jobs, schools, neighborhoods—to preserve what is good and to offer quiet testimony to his mercy. Most of the time this looks small and mundane: telling the truth in love, forgiving instead of resenting, doing your work with care when others are nowhere in sight.
Of course, Jesus also says that salt can lose its saltiness. The Lutheran in me says that salt loses its saltiness when we try to tie our good works to Christ. When we attempt to earn our saltiness by being “saltier” on our own, we become prideful or burnt out. Either way, we end up with bland faith.
The good news is that our saltiness isn’t up to us. Our saltiness is from Jesus. He took upon himself the full extent of our sin—even casting himself out as filthy—and welcomed us into himself. There, when we return to him again and again through his Word and Supper, he makes us salty once more.
Do not worry about trying to be salt today. You already are salt. Live where God has put you and let Christ preserve through you.
✝️ A Prayer for Today:
Graceful Father, guide and keep me so I may be the salt that helps grow faith in the hearts of others. Amen.
Apostles’ Creed:
I believe in God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth.
And in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried. He descended into hell. The third day He rose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. From thence He will come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Christian Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.
The Lord’s Prayer:
Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven; give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever. Amen.
Luther’s Morning Prayer:
I thank You, my heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ, Your dear Son, that You have kept me this night from all harm and danger; and I pray that You would keep me this day also from sin and every evil, that all my doings and life may please You. For into Your hands, I commend myself, my body and soul, and all things. Let Your holy angel be with me, that the evil foe may have no power over me. Amen.
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