SALT!

Don’t you just love metaphor?  Definition: a thing  regarded as representative or symbolic of something else.   As I said before, the natural world, The Book of Nature, is one gigantic metaphor!  Salt is no exception.  
(See ‘salt’ photo above by Jane Gonzales on Unsplash.)  Salt is a preservative; a substance used to preserve food against decay.  It draws out the water in food and without water, harmful bacteria cannot grow.  Food becomes edible and lasts a long time. 

Salt was so valuable in ancient Rome that soldiers were sometimes paid with it. In fact, the word “salary” comes from the Latin word sal, for salt. When a soldier was doing a lousy job, his paycheck might be cut, which is how we got the expression “not worth his salt.”  From an article by Jen McCaffery on readersdigest.com. 

Sound familiar?  Who preserves, removes and prevents decay, is extremely valuable ‘the pearl of great price’, makes it possible to not only ‘last a long time’ but last eternally.  
It’s Jesus!!!

Salt is symbolic of or a metaphor for the ‘GOOD NEWS’.

The good news is, that you can be preserved, be protected from decay, become extremely valuable to God Himself, bring flavor to yourself, your family and those around you, and live forever!

God sent His Son, Jesus into the world not to condemn you, but offer to preserve you and give you eternal life!  Read on!  

‘For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world (preserve it) through him.’  John 3:16-17. 

GOD LOVES YOU AND THERE IS NOTHING YOU CAN DO ABOUT IT!

It’s not about you.  It’s about Him.  You can’t earn what He has for you, you will never be good enough.  It is His gift to you. 

‘For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.’  Ephesians 2:8-9.

‘Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’  (preserved)  Romans 10:13.

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.’  Romans 3:23. 

If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.’ (remove and protect us from decay).  1 John 1:8-9.

Blessed (happy) is the one whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered.’  Psalm 32:1.

He calls all those who believe in and receive Him, ‘the Salt of the earth!’  

‘You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made again?  It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.’  
Matthew 5:13.

I think about this as I contemplate a sculpture by Paolo Giandoso entitled, ‘Genesis 19:26.’  ‘But Lot’s wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.’

Click on the following link to view the sculpture and how it was made:
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/genesis-1913-paolo-giandoso?trk=public_profile_article_view

The beauty and power of this sculpture reminds me that I need to remember that I am the ‘salt of the earth’.  I can flavor the world with my life and actions.  I can share the ‘good news’ of salt.
That preservation, forgiveness of sin, long life, abundant life and life eternal and more than 7000 promises of God are available to all who ‘call on the name of the Lord’!

STAY SALTY!