Salt...and Sinuses

So sorry for my prolonged absence. I noticed last Tuesday that the chili I'd fixed was not pleasing to my palatte. So I added some salt. Upon re-tasting, I still couldn't quite enjoy it without adding another dusting of the white stuff. And another. I should have known something was up...

On Wednesday, I headed to the doctor with what turned out to be the "head" infection of a lifetime. One ear has fluid, the other is angrily infected, and the sinuses are infected as well. Had I not been so self-absorbed with the move to working/staying at home, I'd have known something was coming. When I'm getting sick, I can't taste salt. It took years for me to add two and two but I kept noticing that when I'd layer on the salt for lack of flavor, something dreadful was coming down the pike.

That got me to thinking, so I googled "what does salt do?"

This is one of the first sites I was drawn to. Here's the quote on their home page:

"Over the course of human history, salt has added much more than flavor. Its ability to preserve foods and sustain civilizations through cold winters has sent countries on desperate searches to find it, control it, tax it, and trade it. In some parts of the world, salt was minted into coins as valuable as gold and soldiers were paid in salt (hence the terms 'salary' and 'worth his salt'). Today, salt is far more common that it used to be, but not every type is the same."

- Weber Grill-Out Times, Fall 2002

Soon I got to pondering the spiritual concept of being salt. After all, this is an illustration used by Christ Himself. In Matthew 5:13-16, Jesus tells his disciples, "You are the salt of the earth" From here we read this:

"Salt is necessary for flavor. Without Christians and the gospel they proclaim and practice, this world would be more insipid. There is no true flavor found in the world. There is no true joy found in this world. Only the company of Christians gives flavor and joy to the world. We can prove this by examining the worldly parties and good times. What are they like? Boring, tasteless, and insipid. As Christians, we have the function to provide flavor and taste to the world. The gospel of Jesus Christ is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes. The world is without hope, and only the Christian, by his proclamation and practice, will point the world to hope in Jesus Christ.

The world is sick. Terribly ill with all that satan has to offer. All that is void, displeasing to the Creator, unlovely, unloveable. In fact, it's so sick it can't taste the salt. May God hear my prayer for just a tiny way to be salt to a sick and dying world.