Sometimes, when something doesn’t do what it was made to do, you can find another use for it. For example, I once used the handle of an old, broken shovel as a stake in my garden to hold up a large tomato plant. It actually worked quite well. I have seen old car tires, that no longer work well as car tires, being used for all kinds of different things, from planters to playground equipment.
But sometimes, there are things designed with such specific purpose, that when they cease to fulfill that purpose, there is absolutely no other legitimate use for them. Salt fits into this category.
Salt can be used to add flavor to food or to preserve food. But if salt quits making food “come alive” with flavor, and no longer functions as a preservative, there is no other use for it. If salt stops being salty it becomes completely worthless.
In Luke 14:34-35 Jesus said, “Salt is good, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is of no use either for the soil or for the manure pile. It is thrown away. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”
Jesus said that salt that doesn’t behave the way salt should has less value than dirt! People have even found beneficial uses for animal waste, using it as a fertilizer. No such use can be found for salt that is not salty. It is utterly worthless and is thrown away.
If Jesus had simply been talking about actual salt, that would be one thing, but he wasn’t. He was using salt as an analogy as he talked about people who claim to follow him. Followers of Jesus are called to be like salt in this world. We are called to bring life and to preserve.
A disciple of Jesus is similar to salt in that he or she is designed with a very specific purpose. And if that purpose is not fulfilled the result is worthlessness. What happens if a disciple refuses to “bring life” or preserve? What if they refuse to do what they were made to do?
If you have accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior then you are a new creature (2 Corinth 5:17). As a new creature, you have a new purpose; bringing others into relationship with Jesus (2 Corinth 5:18-21). This is the same instruction Jesus gave to his disciples in Matthew 28. A disciple of Jesus is assigned the task of telling other about Jesus & teaching them to follow Jesus (Matt 28:19-20).
Disciples disciple. That’s what we do. That is what we were made to do. That is our purpose. A disciple that doesn’t disciple is like salt that isn’t salty: worthless. Refuse to fall into that category. Decide today that you will fulfill the purpose that God gave you. Commit to tell somebody about Jesus and teach them to follow him.
