We spend a lot of time working to figure this one out. How does salt lose its saltiness?
13 “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.
Salt is one of the most stable compounds, how does it lose its saltiness? I have done a video on this as the salt of the Dead Sea and surrounding area can be highly reduced, the salt being diminished by the volume of attached impurities.
But that issue can easily distract us as to what Jesus was saying. He was giving us a warning. “Don’t be so crowded out by impurities that you lose your effectiveness.”
If we think about it, it’s a gut check. If I think about it, it’s confrontive.
Here’s the truth.
Social media and anything online for that matter takes a LOT of our time. Hours out of every day. Some of it is good, most of it is entertainment. We are so distracted by it. And worse, our attention span and focus are so diminished we can hardly read a book unless it is storytelling.
Then there’s the distraction of events in the world. Soooo much going on everywhere–US presidential election, Russia/Ukraine, Israel/anti-Israel, men in sports, children getting life-altering gender surgeries, and so very much more. And these are important issues. They take our minds, our thoughts, our worries, our conversations, and more.
Then there’s our own issues. We have the realities of life we live in. Challenging circumstances, good/bad marriages, job concerns, inflation issues, and more.
We are being pulled in every direction. To say our minds are distracted is an understatement.
When we pray, do our minds go all over the place?
When we read the Bible, can we focus and meditate more than a half minute?
How do we find internal stillness? Peace? And focus? We can carve out time in our day and discipline ourselves, but the truth is even then our mind is all over the place. It makes me think of thorns.
Mt 13:22 – The seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful.
When we are so distracted and pulled so many directions, are we thinking about about the great commission? Or are we thinking about the latest war or the latest political figure or the latest evil on the news?
I’m thinking that we are becoming more and more unfruitful. Myself included.
How do we get off this train that has lost its control?
Here’s me:
I find I don’t think I am addicted to tech or to new but if I try to get away from it all I am.
I find that my mind has been so trained by social media I find it hard to concentrate.
I find my heart has become hard because of my own personal life experiences I don’t know how to navigate righteously.
We. Must. Change.
If not we will be dead inside. The world is growing that way at a rapid pace.
How do we find our way back to stillness and connection with the LORD.
One day at a time. One choice at a time. One scraping away at the barnacles that attach to our ships at a time.
Like losing weight, it is a journey of sacrifice of what we love for what we love even more.
Because to bring it all back home, salt can lose its saltiness and effectiveness. At which point it is not good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled by men.
