Daily Reading: 5-25-16
Luke 14:34-35
If you know me at all, you know I enjoy salty treats: popcorn, tortilla chips, almonds, etc. Please don’t withhold the salt on these items, because they are just not the same for me! Salt not only preserves food, it gives these treats great flavor. There is a side effect from enjoying salt; it makes me really thirsty. If I am going to enjoy salt, I know I will need to find something to quench my thirst.
From our passage, today, we gain the understanding that Jesus enjoys salt, too; salty disciples.
Our reading begins as Jesus is teaching his disciples about the cost of following Him. He uses salt as a simile. Why? It is a local example the disciples can understand. The salt that was used in Palestine was probably from the south end of the Dead Sea. This salt was in contact with the ground and endured repeated exposure to the rain and sun causing it to lose its effectiveness to flavor or preserve food. Jesus wants the disciples to realized they could lose their effectiveness to flavor the world with God’s love. The disciples would need to endure the effects of the world in order to stay salty to the end! If they lose their saltiness as disciples, they lose their effectiveness for growing the Kingdom.