Beside the Well
I’m
almost finished with Burroughs’ discourse on the Beatitudes. He has moved to the last few verses. “Ye are
the salt of the earth; but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it
be salted? It is thenceforth good for nothing,
but to be cast out, and to be trodden under the foot of men.” Matthew 5:13
If you
ever get a chance to read this book you will experience times when your heart
jumps so high tears fall from your eyes as truth opens your understanding. Let me share some pieces of truth he brought
and how it blessed my heart.
The word
of God says Christians are the salt of the earth. Burroughs breaks this down into some simple
applications.
1.
Salt is wisdom.
The gospel brings wisdom wherever it comes. It teaches the world how to be wise to
salvation, and it raises the thoughts of men.
2.
Salt makes things taste better. Before the gospel is applied, men have
unsavoury spirits; but when the gospel is received, they become savoury.
3.
Christians are the salt of the earth. It is the use of the gospel that keeps the
world from perishing by putrefaction.
Salt keeps the Christian’s heart wholesome.
Then he
moved on to more explanation, and my heart began to feel the pulse of truth.
Leviticus
2:13 “And every oblation of thy meat-offering shalt thou season with salt;
neither shalt thou suffer the salt of the covenant of thy God to be lacking
from thy meat-offering; with all thine offerings thou shalt offer salt.”
What? So every meat offering had to be salted? Yes.
And not only the meat offerings, but also the oil, flour; every
sacrifice was to be salted. Then, Mark
9:49-50 instructs the same saying, “Have salt in yourselves.”
All our
sacrifices should have salt. “There must
be a savoury spirit-that is, savoury unto God, and doth savour the things of
God: and then there must be a spirit that is not corrupted or putrefied. Such a one, when he offers up himself to God,
is an acceptable sacrifice to him.” (p 245)
Pastor
Gritts had just preached on the sacrifices we are to offer God. Putting them in the light of being rendered
with salt showed me more about the manner and attitude with which I offer my
sacrifices. Is my sacrifice of praise savoury? (Hebrews 13:15) Are my prayers flavored with salt?
(Revelation 8:4) Is my giving
salted? (Philippians 4:18) Are my good works done with saltiness? (Hebrews 13:16; Ephesians 2:8-10) Am I a living, salted sacrifice? (Romans
12:1)
As those
questions whirled in my head, Burroughs hit me with another beautiful truth, “The
gospel is the very balsam of nature.” It
affects society for the better. It draws
men to Christ. It cleans up our speech. It exhorts to a pure life.
Before I
could take in the loveliness of that statement, he smacked me with this: Ministers of the gospel must apply salt, and
sometimes it must be rubbed in.” I
laughed aloud as I pictured the minister rubbing truth into people as one would
rub salt into a roast.
But, I
got the idea. The gospel is more than a
message; it is salt. It is the thing that
draws men to Christ, changes society, raises men, and creates hope.
Burroughs
closed with this, “Whatever God lets me have in this world, I cannot relish it
or savour it without the gospel, and without salt I cannot offer any sacrifice
savoury to God. The doctrine of the
ministry of the word is as salt to the benefit of nature.”
How
salty are you? Are you rubbing it into
your life?
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