Salt of Human Race

YOU ARE LIKE SALT FOR THE WHOLE HUMAN RACE. Matthew 5.13.

If my old professor of medicine had told me, “Benjamin, your destiny is to cure all diseases and give health to all those around you”, I would have laughed and dismissed his ‘over-estimation of my ability’. But that does not seem such an impossible proposition when you compare it with what the Lord Jesus Christ told a bunch of uneducated fishermen and ordinary folk of Galilee who followed Him, “You are like salt for the whole human race.”

However impossible the proposition might have seemed, it wasn’t very difficult for these men to understand and capture the intentions of Jesus for them. They were familiar with the element, salt, as it was as much a part of their daily life more than wheat or barley. Some being fishermen and the others too being used to a diet of fish, all coming from the surroundings of the Sea of Galilee, they used salt daily.

The disciples knew well what salt was used for! They used salt to preserve fish from rotting before sale or cooking, having no refrigeration like today! They also used salt for cooking in order to flavour their daily food. It was also used as fertiliser. They could easily grasp the significance and implication of what Jesus had told them - “You are like salt for the whole human race.” He was preparing them to be like salt among the people. Their influence was to spread all round and reach the whole human race, acting like salt - preserving the society from decay, flavouring their lives on earth and offering forgiveness of sins and eternal life for all.

The world around us is rotting through every imaginable sin and becoming less and less conducive to right living for us and our children. Things will only go from bad to worse if something or somebody does not apply the brakes! That it the reason we are in this world. That is the purpose of God for each one of us Christians. We, as disciples and followers of Jesus, are to influence the world and transform the people.

Dear believer, neither you nor your children should keep asking like people who are ignorant of God’s eternal purposes, “Who am I? Why am I here?” Jesus answered these puzzling questions for us. In the new order of the kingdom of God each one of us is to be THE SALT OF THE HUMAN RACE AND THE LIGHT OF THE PEOPLE. It must be firmly established in your mind and you should teach it to your children so that your lives on earth will not be vague and wishy-washy but driven by the ‘PURPOSE OF GOD’!

Dear friend, if you are not yet sure of your place as a disciple of Jesus in your home, neighbourhood, workplace, society and the world, make it certain today beyond all doubt, as you hear afresh the words of Jesus - “You are like salt for the whole human race. You are like light for the whole world”.

Pray and practise with me: Dear Lord, help me live out Your purpose for me on earth each day. Let my every word and action make the world a better place for all to live and enjoy life, glorifying God. Amen.