A Powerful Combination

Have you ever thought about salt? For centuries salt has been used to preserve meat, to flavor, and even to clean. When you think about salt from a chemical aspect you may be surprised by the two elements involved, sodium and chlorine. While sodium is a harmless element that bonds easily with other elements, chlorine is a poisonous gas. It is ironic that such a toxin (chlorine) once combined with another element becomes so useful.
Jesus tells us in Matthew 5:13 “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no good for anything except to be thrown out and be trampled on by men.”
For a Christian, love and truth can be like chlorine and sodium. Each can be dangerous alone, but together they can create an essential part of a Christian life. For example, love without truth can be flighty, blind, and can lead to the acceptance of false beliefs. We see this kind of love in cults and misguided emotional followings. Love is to be tempered with truth. I certainly love people, but I also know that the Bible tells me that Satan is at work in the world wherever he can get a toe hold in someone’s life. We certainly cannot meet every action or statement with love.
Likewise, truth by itself can be abrasive, offensive, and maybe even a bit poisonous. I remind my church members that evangelism is practiced with the truth in love. One cannot proclaim the gospel, the truth, without doing so in love and expect any non-believer to hear anything other than someone being judgmental. Such truth told without love simply wounds and poisons the possibility of reaching a non-believer.
When the two elements of love and truth come together, it becomes “the salt of the earth.” I am reminded of a story of a pastor who returned to visit his former congregation. He watched the current pastor and listened. After the service he asked a leader of the church, “I preached the same basic message that your pastor preached when I was here, but you didn’t like my preaching. Now I hear him saying the same things I said and you all seem to love him. Why is that?” The leader responded, “When you were here you did preach the same message, but you did so with a scowl on your face and a harsh tone in your voice. This guy preaches with a tear in his eye. He tells us the same truth; he just does it with love.” The former pastor walked away puzzled. You are the salt of the earth! Tell someone about your walk of faith, not in a prideful or superior manner, but out of love for that person and the salvation that lies within the gospel truth. And be sure, always sure, that you use the right combination of truth and love in doing so.