Get Back Your Saltiness
– Mark 9:38-50
As people of faith, we’re called to serve. We’re called to be the salt of the earth and see beyond the boundaries and lines that separate us so we can recognize what unites us. We’re called to be salt and light and embody the basic core elements of God’s Kingdom as demonstrated by Jesus. Those elements are grace, peace, hope, love, welcome and most importantly, service.
That’s what Mark is talking about in verses 9:38-50. He’s inviting us to put aside what divides us and instead to celebrate what unites us. That is our saltiness. Things like our desire to serve and enhance the lives of others. Our desire to preserve justice for all of God’s people. And our ability to flavor the bland existence of others with the seasonings of the Kingdom of God.
He’s also reminding us that we may lose our way sometimes. When we let our saltiness become too staid and restrictive it can sometimes stand in the way of the work of the Kingdom. When it does, we have a responsibility to restore our saltiness and get back to the basics and renew and restore our purpose as the people of God.
There are some basic elements that make up the Kingdom of God and make a believer a believer. They work a lot like basic elements in the body. Let’s take salt for example. What happens when you get too much salt in your diet? It raises your blood pressure and makes you swell and retain water. But what happens when you don’t have enough salt in your body? The body has no energy. The body has no zest. The body becomes listless. The same thing goes for the Body of Christ.
When we blindly focus only on the basic elements of the Kingdon without taking into consideration the actual needs of God’s people, the Body of Christ becomes rigid and tight. People see themselves as right and everyone else as wrong. They think their way is the only way, so they shut out other voices. And that leads to thinking that they can do everything on their own without a need for God. That’s when The Body of Christ breaks down.
But the opposite can also be a problem. With too little grace, peace, hope, faith, service, and welcome, the Body of Christ becomes lifeless, listless and without energy. And that’s when the church just leaves the work of the Kingdom up to God while they wait on the sidelines.
When the Body becomes either too rigid or too lifeless, it’s the church’s responsibility to get back to the basics. To remember what unites us instead of what divides us. We need remember our purpose in serving God’s people by loving them, welcoming them, and sharing God’s grace with everyone. When we do, we get back our saltiness and fit ourselves for the work that God sets before us.