Book 3 of Musings Have Salt in Yourselves

Jesus said, "Have salt in yourselves."

What is the salt that God must find if a sacrifice is to be acceptable to Himself? That salt is God's own holy, righteous Substance. God must find Himself in all that belongs to Him, just as a mother dog sniffs her litter to make certain each one is hers. It seems sometimes that most Christian activity is composed of inert ingredients. The salt of God's Person is not present.

The Bible has quite a bit to say about salt.

Under the Law of Moses, every offering had to include salt.

The Lord Jesus referred to us as the salt of the earth. He also advised us to have salt in ourselves.

I have often thought about the salt mentioned in connection with God's covenants, but I have not been able to put my finger on exactly what is meant by the salt of God's covenant.

So I asked the Lord about it. Usually God speaks to me in words. This time it was more of a feeling, and I have had a hard time putting it into words. The closest I can get it that salt represents the God's own holy righteous substance. Perhaps there is more to it than this.

It made me think of a dog sniffing of her litter of pups to make sure they all were hers. She was making certain she was smelling herself in each of her pups.

I have noticed of late that much of the Christian activity that goes on seems to be lacking some kind of depth. It is hard to put it into words.

It reminds me of potent chemicals. Sometimes you will notice on a bottle or box of some potent medicine, insecticide, or some other chemical, that the material contained in the receptacle is 99% inert ingredients. There is only about one percent of the chemical you are purchasing.

If you had 100% of the chemical it would be too strong to be effective. It must be diluted in some manner.

The inert ingredients could be any number of substances. It really doesn't matter. They are only filler to dilute the potent chemical.

So it is with the Christian activity that takes place. I think most of it is composed of inert ingredients. There is just a small amount of the Lord in it. Perhaps this is necessary. Maybe if it was 100% the Lord we couldn't handle it successfully.

Perhaps His Presence is too pure, too powerful, too holy for us to respond to successfully.

But here's the point. There must be some of the Lord if it is to be effective.

If we have a medicine that is heavily diluted it will cure us. The tiny amount of chemical will do the job. But if it were all inert ingredients, we might as well drink water. Nothing is going to take place.

I think we need to be admonished today. The emphasis is on attracting ever large groups of people. Churches are advertised as the "largest in the world," or, "the fastest growing church in the United States."

This is a destructive practice.

Why is it a destructive practice? Because it puts great pressure on a young minister to attract crowds of people. If he doesn't he is regarded as a failure, a loser.

But think. How will this affect his preaching?

In order to attract crowds of people he is going to preach a cheap, non-demanding grace. If he desires crowds of people he certainly is not going to tell them that in order to be a Christian they will have to deny themselves, take up their cross each day, and follow Jesus. Think about this.

The other day I saw a sign outside a religious institution. It said: "Come inside and we will tell you about a free trip to Heaven."

This is what American people want, or demand-a free trip to Heaven.

We have destroyed the Gospel by leaving the impression that great numbers of people are a sign of successful preaching. In fact, the very opposite may be the case, and often is the case, I believe.

I know of at least one minister who believes that the fruit the Lord Jesus mentioned in the fifteenth chapter of the Gospel of John consists of people who come to his church. The idea of the fruit remaining is that the people continue coming to his church.

The truth is, the fruit to which the Lord referred is His moral image wrought in us and in those whom we influence.

Every offering must contain the salt of God's Presence. If God comes to look over our work, He must find Himself in it. There must be some of God in it. If not, it will not taste good to God. It will have lost its salty flavor.

In the same manner, if we are to be the salt of the earth, we must have God in us. When the world "tastes" of what we are offering, the world must taste God. If it does not, if we have lost our saltiness, then we are good for nothing but the dunghill.

If we have thousands of people in our church service, and it is all human talent and activity, it is worthless to the Kingdom of God.

Let us from this point forward make certain God is in what we are doing, that there is something beside inert ingredients.

Season all your grain offerings with salt. Do not leave the salt of the covenant of your God out of your grain offerings; add salt to all your offerings. (Leviticus 2:13)

Everyone will be salted with fire. Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can you make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with each other." (Mark 9:49-50)