Becoming Salt            

In studying Ephesians I was really impressed by Paul's usage of the word "in". This is especially true where he writes that God has created "in Him (meaning Jesus), one new man." You know if you take the obnoxious smelling ammonia and mix it with the pungent smelling chlorine you will get two things: salt and chlorine gas. Consider for a moment that the beaker is Christ. God takes us, all of us, and unites us IN HIM, like pouring ammonia and chlorine into the same beaker. Now, as dumb as this is to do in reality I have done it (and suffered years of bronchitis as a result). Nevertheless I have learned some interesting biblical truths.

First, the mixture gets HOT. Don't try this (the chlorine gas really is toxic), and even if you do try it don't hold the beaker or whatever you are pouring the two into. It will get too hot to hold. When we get serious with God He gets serious with us. The result is that we end up going through intense heat that we might be purified. Hang on. This process is necessary.

Second, the process produces two things, the first of which is chlorine gas. There are several things wrong with chlorine gas, but one of the qualities is that it can't stay in the beaker. It rises up and is blown away. Half-hearted Christians, those playing the game, those sitting on the fence will be "blown away" when they are brought together "in Christ" to be unified. This is a biblical teacher, for Jesus said that in the last days there would be a great falling away.

Third, the second thing this process produces is salt. That's right, salt. Salt is good for all kinds of things. Just ask those of us up north who have had to shovel snow and salt down icy walkways this winter. So on the one hand you create a gas that is blown away, while on the other hand you create a useable substance that cannot be blown away. It can, as you have stated, become useless. For that reason we must always find ourselves IN HIM. For it is in being IN HIM that we find our purpose, our strength, our true power, our effectiveness, and become God's salt of the earth.

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