Don’t Lose Your Crackers!

One of my favorite editorial bloopers, saved from long ago, read:

“If Jesus’ disciples lose their saltines, what could happen to our world?”

That wording conjured a crazy image of a world in complete chaos simply because believers had misplaced their crackers!

Of course, “saltines” should have been “saltiness.” The writer was addressing Jesus’ words to his followers in Matthew 5:13: “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness… it is no longer good for anything.”

Now, per Merriam-Webster, salty can carry the meaning of “crude language” or “resentful attitude”—but that’s not what Jesus is talking about.

GotQuestions concisely and clearly digs into what the Bible means by believers being “salty.” To pull a couple of their thoughts:

• “Believers should influence the world for good rather than evil. If we fail to be distinct from the world, then we are like salt that has lost its saltiness. Salt that is no longer salty has lost its prime distinctive; its whole reason for existence is gone. The loss of saltiness, then, represents a significant decline, in which believers become indistinguishable from the world. This makes our witness ineffective and fruitless.”

• “We must preserve the world from spiritual and moral decay, pursue the holiness of God, enhance the lives of those around us with gracious speech and actions. All the while, we must maintain a distinct identity from the world by remaining connected to Christ.”

Saltiness is a big deal.

Staying with our crackers analogy, some of us prefer salty snacks while others prefer sweet. In the daily Christian life, though, we need both salty and sweet (figuratively). We’re to be kind, helpful, understanding. But maybe sometimes we’re “too sweet”? On certain occasions, are we afraid to be “salty” in the sense of a good, strong influence? Afraid to the point of being merely sweet? Maybe we even defend that sweetness with statements like “I was trying to be nice” or “I wasn’t sure whether I should…” or “She’s so spiritually mixed up, but of course, you can’t say anything.”

Matthew 5:13 is pretty convicting. We mustn’t be cowardly about standing on and speaking the Lord’s truth, walking the Lord’s path even when difficult, testifying of the Lord’s provision/guidance, and letting people see the Lord’s best in us.

That’s saltiness.

So don’t lose your crackers!