I don’t know how many times I’ve read these words. Don’t know how many times I’ve heard someone else read these words and then preach on them. But for some reason, this morning they hit with a particular weightiness.

“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

(Matthew 5:13 ESV)

You are the salt of the earth . . .

Me? Yeah, you.

Salt? As in providing the savor of heaven, stemming the decay of sin, and promoting a thirst for righteousness? Yup.

Of the earth? Yes sir, at least the piece of it God has given you to occupy and to have influence within.

Really? Uh huh, really!

Whew! No pressure!

If ever the world in which I live needed salt, it’s now. If ever character seemed to not matter, if ever consequences seemed inconsequential, if ever the culture seemed bent on total corruption . . . hello 2024. So, what a way to start a new year, with the reminder that I am the salt of the earth and that if I’m not salty it means I’m missing a big part of my calling to follow Jesus. Like I said, no pressure.

Some would seem to think that saltiness is only about what we do. What truths we defend. What side we take. What vote we cast. It’s not less than that. But I think it’s so much more than that.

After all, salt is subtle. I think being salty is also about the character we display as well as the character of the characters we support. It’s about being heavenly wise and not just worldly astute. It’s about being quick to hear and slow to speak and even slower to anger (James 1;19), even as those around us seem bent on continually shouting. It’s about possessing, and expressing, a certain air — the air of heaven, and a noticeable nuance — the nuance of holiness.

Okay, that’s not helping with the pressure.

But the Lord put something else on my plate this morning that might help.

But he, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. And he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”

(Acts 7:55-56 ESV)

“He” is Stephen, and I also read his defense before the council this morning. Talk about having to be salt. Talk about an opportunity to shine light. Talk about a no-win situation if winning meant you were going to get out alive. Hey Stephen, no pressure!

But he stood fast and he salted. And he did so with a laser focus on “things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God”, his mind set on “things that are above, not on things that are on earth” (Col. 3:1-2). And he did so full of the Holy Spirit.

If I’m gonna be salt, I’m gonna need to be full of the Holy Spirit. If I’m gonna be light, I’ll need first to have the light shining within me. If I’m gonna do what a follower of Jesus is supposed to do, then I’ll need to do it through the power of the Spirit which the Son said He would send from the Father (Jn. 14:16-17, 25; 15:26-27; 16:7-8). I might be called to be salt, but the Spirit’s active agency within me is my only hope of saltiness.

Chew on that for a bit . . . and maybe there’s not “no pressure,” but, by faith, there’s a lot less.

Only by His grace. Always for His glory.