What does it mean to be the salt of the earth?
Today’s verse comes from Jesus’s Sermon on the Mount:
You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet.
Jesus says that when salt has lost its taste, it’s only good for being trampled beneath people’s feet.
So the big question is: “Are you salty?”
Here are three questions to ask yourself.
All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, (2 Timothy 3:16 ESV)
Notice the phrase breathed out? Some translations render it given by inspiration. These phrases come from the Greek word theopneustos, which is the combination of theos, meaning God, and pneuma, coming from the root pneu, which describes a dynamic movement of air.
(^Wow that was a long sentence!)
There are instances where it can be translated to breathe or emit a fragrance as well. So in this simple phrase, breathed out, there is a depth we don’t often perceive.
This word theopneustos then is really the picture of God breathing or emitting his own substance into something.
The LORD was with Joseph so that he prospered, and he lived in the house of his Egyptian master. When his master saw that the LORD was with him and that the LORD gave him success in everything he did, Joseph found favor in his eyes and became his attendant. Potiphar put him in charge of his household, and he entrusted to his care everything he owned.
Genesis 39:2–4 ESV
God blessed Joseph’s work and “gave him success in everything he did.”
Potiphar, one of the most powerful men in Egypt at the time, noticed this and instantly hired him.
Not only did he give him a job, but he also promoted him to overseeing everything!
Obviously, we know this story takes an unfortunate detour when his wife tried to seduce him (Genesis 39:6). However, let’s focus on how God prospered Joseph to see the big-picture view.