Salt Life: Living It

 Living in Florida, I often see "Salt Life" t-shirts and car stickers.  In case you're not familiar with it, Salt Life is a popular surf shop and company that sells products for all kinds of ocean-related things from scuba diving to surfing to just hanging at the beach.  The salt life is nothing new.  Jesus talked about how we should all be living it but it has nothing to do with salt water.  In the Sermon on the Mount these are His words:

"You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored?  It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet." - Mt. 5:13
 
Thrown out?  Trampled?  Ouch!  With these strong words, it is obviously important to remain "salty." So what does it mean to live the Salt Life?  This comes right after the Beatitudes, so from this we learn that being "salty" requires things like hungering and thirsting for righteousness, meekness, and mercy to name a few. 

Immediately following is another illustration where the church is described as "the light of the world. A city set on a hill...."  This illustration is clear that God intends for us to be seen in the world and that our faith should not be hidden but lived out among others. 

As believers, God is calling us to step into the world and be seen making a difference - adding salt, shining light.  In a world full of sin and the consequences of greedy, selfish, power-hungry people,  the Lord has called His church to be the ones to shine light into the dark places and to proclaim the good news of the Kingdom.  According to Eph 2:10, God has prepared good works for us to walk in.  God could have chosen to preach the gospel to the world through a giant megaphone, but He has chosen to use us - "How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!"

Similarly, He could have chosen to feed the poor with manna from Heaven, protect the oppressed with legions of angels, and wipe away every tear from every eye with His own physical hand.  Instead, He wants to use us to bring mercy, justice, and compassion to this world - to make it salty. 

I want to live the Salt Life.  I want to make a tangible difference in our world through the power of God's Spirit.  If it means taking risks and getting my hands dirty, then so be it.  Jesus was willing to leave Heaven and become one of us and even suffer and die by the hands of those He was dying to save.  The least I can do is hang out with non-Christians and engage in the world to help the needy and defend the oppressed.  In doing so, maybe, just maybe, God will use me to make our world a little saltier.