Salt of the Earth
My wife picked up a shaker of hickory smoked salt from the bulk foods store the other day. When I saw it I was immediately skeptical. I’m a simple guy, and anything other than plain salt seemed frivolous and unnecessary. But over the weekend I made a roast in the crockpot, and I was in too deep to back out when I discovered that I was out of steak rub for the meat. So instead of scrapping the whole idea or settling for a bland roast, I went for that hickory smoked salt. The end result was incredible. The salt brought out the flavor of the meat, and the smoky flavor added a layer of complexity that I never even knew I was missing.
Salt – even the non-hickory smoked kind – is an amazing substance. Just a little bit and it brings out all of the flavor and richness of a dish. But salt is more than just a seasoning – salt has been used to preserve food for centuries. Thanks to physics I don’t understand, salt will actually prohibit some bacterial growth in concentrations as little as 3%. Before the advent of refrigeration, salt was an absolute necessity. Salt was so important in Jesus’s day that he said that we are the salt of the earth.
No one salts food to make their food taste like salt, but to bring out the flavor of the food that is already there. Salt preserves the goodness of the food by preventing harmful things from growing in and spoiling food. Likewise, we should celebrate and encourage good everywhere and work to reduce and reverse evils and ills everywhere they may be found. Society should grow and blossom everywhere Christ’s people are present. Where do you see good that needs joined or a problem that needs solved? How can you use your position, your influence, your strengths and your gifts to further the presence of God everywhere you go?
Sometimes it’s all too easy to miss the opportunities to join God’s work when they’re right under our noses. If this resonates with you and you would like to learn more about how to joining God’s work through your everyday work please consider joining us at the 2015 City Gates Conference in Detroit Michigan on September 12. You’ll join with others who seek to impact their cities for the kingdom and gain wisdom and insight from others who are on the same path.
Image courtesy Dubravko Sorić. Sourced via Flickr
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