Too Much Salt

If you have ever been a student, you are probably familiar with "Student Housing".  And if you are familiar with "Student Housing", you are probably familiar with one of life's slimier problems: the slug.  And if you are familiar with the slug problem, you are probably also familiar with the slug solution: Salt.  And lots of it.

I recently saw a picture of a complex salt maze someone had made from their back door, which any brave slug would have to overcome in order to 'enter' the house.  The maze had many tight corners and dead ends - virtually impossible to master if you are a slug ...  I wish I had thought of that as a student.

And it's not just slugs who can't stand too much salt.  When I was little I thought salt and pepper were opposites.  I once had an unfortunate accident with a loose-lidded salt shaker and covered what would have been a lovely plate of chips in white stuff.  Thinking the pepper would cancel out the salt, I applied that liberally to the plate too.  You can imagine the result.

The point is that too much salt is unpleasant, sometimes harmful and potentially lethal, if you are a slug. We all know the dangers of a diet high in salt and the potential problems this can lead to.   So whilst yesterday I said we need to be salt in the world and let people 'taste' our saltiness, to pique their interest in God, we also need to make sure we don't overdo the salt.

Sometimes I think as Christians we can become so focused on being 'salty' that we forget that salt isn't ever meant to be eaten by itself.  It is meant to be added to food to enhance it and draw out the different flavours that are already there.  Similarly, we are meant to be salt in the world, salt mingling and mixing with the other flavours of the world, not overpowering them and overwhelming them.  We are meant to meet people where they are and engage with them and draw them to God, not offer up an unappetising plate of salt.

Which leads us to ask: what does it look like to be salt?  Salt with my friends, salt with my family, salt with my neighbours, salt with my colleagues, salt at work, salt at the pub, salt at the party?  Do people taste a difference?  

Salt isn't a meal in itself. 

"You must have the qualities of salt among yourselves and live in peace with each other."

[Mark 9:50, NLT. Emphasis added]

If you need help with a salt maze for your own slug, try this: http://resources0.news.com.au/images/2012/06/13/1226393/924840-snail-maze.jpg