1.23-What does it mean to be the salt of the earth?

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1.23

Matthew 5.

13 “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how [e]can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men.

What does it mean to be the salt of the earth?
Salt adds taste and seasoning to make something taste different and better.  In addition it preserves meat.

Jesus said that His students were the salt of the earth.  We are different.  We have a different world view.  Our minds are not set on retirement, but engagement.  To the Christian our goal is not withdrawal from our work and playing golf and shuffleboard for the rest of our lives.  The word retirement is not really in the vocabulary of a disciple of Jesus.  When we have more freedom to work for the benefit of God and our fellowman instead of having to go to a specific job location for our food and shelter we have more opportunity to do more things for the good of the kingdom of heaven.
We are called to a life of purity instead of immorality and impurity.  Instead of being greedy we have a life of giving to others.
We have no interest in malice and slander and abusive speech.  Lies are not a part of our speech pattern as followers of Jesus.
We are working for justice for the oppressed and lowly who have no power to stand up for themselves.
This salt is very different from the surrounding world.  It seasons our farms and shops and daily jobs whatever they are.
We strive to be compassionate, kind, humble, gentle and patient.
Since these are our goals we must pray for forgiveness for ourselves and for others.  This causes us to be a people of mercy instead of judgment.
Our hearts are full of contentment and gratefulness for God’s love and grace to us.
This is salt into our family, community and nation.
This life style is mentioned in Colossians 3.
5 [a]Conduct yourselves with wisdom toward outsiders, [b]making the most of the opportunity. 6 Let your speech always be [c]with grace, as though seasoned with salt, so that you will know how you should respond to each person.

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