There are times in Scripture where Jesus talks about things that are hard for us to translate into a modern context, but in many other times, He speaks about timeless things. When Jesus tells His disciples that they are “the salt of the earth” (Matthew 5:13), He uses an image that we can easily relate to. We all use salt and interact with it daily. In fact, our bodies need salt to live! 

Throughout human history, and the Scriptures, salt is used in three different ways: seasoning, purifying and preserving. You’ve probably used salt in these ways too. Perhaps you’ve seasoned a meal with salt or added it to French fries. Perhaps you use salt in your house to soften water or have a salt lamp to help purify the air. You’ve also probably eaten a salty snack food that you bought at the store. Part of the reason that much of our food has salt in it is to help preserve it so that it lasts a long time.

If you’re familiar with cooking and using spices, you probably know that some spices can lose some of their potency over time. The same is not true of salt. Salt is always salty; it never diminishes in saltiness. So, it’s interesting when Jesus asks, “but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored?” The only way that salt can become “un-salty” is if it chemically transforms into something completely different.

When Jesus gives his Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5), He was speaking specifically to those who would become committed followers and disciples. The peoples’ whole beings were to be centered on Jesus Christ. Their entire identity was based on living out the teachings of Jesus Christ. You were either a follower and sold out to the mission—or you were not. You were either salt or you were not.

Being a follower of Jesus Christ is certainly a journey; life is full of ebbs and flows. We transform, we grow, we move, we question, we strive. Discipleship to Christ is also a life of devotion and commitment to the things God has called us to. Jesus wants us to be salt, but if we don’t inhabit that calling and live out our identity as the seasoning, purifiers and preservers of the earth, then we’ve chosen to be something different.

As Christians, we always have the choice of whether to remain followers of Jesus Christ. Every day, we must choose to let being a disciple of Jesus be our identity, or there is a danger for us to be “no longer good for anything.” Let us pray that we will be good, holy and useful as we are the salt of the earth.

• November 1: Matthew 5:13
• November 2: Mark 9:50
• November 3: Luke 14:34
• November 4: 2 Chronicles 35:10-12
• November 5: Judges 9:45
• November 6: 2 Kings 2
• November 7: Exodus 30: 34-36
• November 8: Leviticus 2:12-14 
• November 9: Numbers 18:18-20
• November 10: Deuteronomy 29:22-24
• November 11: Job 6:5-7
• November 12: Ezekiel 16:3-5
• November 13: Ezekiel 43:23-25
• November 14: Ezra 6:8-10
• November 15: Ezra 7: 21-24
• November 16: Colossians 4:6
• November 17: Matthew 4:17-19
• November 18: Matthew 7:20-22
• November 19: Matthew 10:1-3
• November 20: Matthew 12:46-50
• November 21: Matthew 16:20-22
• November 22: Matthew 26:18-29
• November 23: Matthew 18:16-20
• November 24: Luke 14: 25-27
• November 25: John 6:53-59
• November 26: John 13:34-36
• November 27: John 15:1-4
• November 28: John 15:5-8
• November 29: John 15:9-17
• November 30: John 15:18-27