Do you know where the phrase “you’re not worth your salt” came from?
The Roman Empire paid its soldiers in salt. In Roman days, a soldier that did poorly was not worth their salt. In Pat Franks novel Alas Babylon, the world has experienced nuclear war and society has been reduced to a primitive level. There are no stores, banks, schools, hospitals, police, or government. There is no money. Do you know what people adopt as a medium of exchange? The precious commodity that became the basis for fledging commerce is salt.
Two thousand years ago the Roman Empire paid its soldiers in salt. the storage vault for salt in Latin is called the salarnm, from which comes the English word salary. There is a salt covenant in Lev. 2:13. The salt covenant is a covenant of loyalty, a covenant that the world- and yes, even the church- has forgotten. In Bible times, men carried a pouch of salt on their belts. When two men wanted to exchange a covenant of loyalty and agreement, each would take some salt and sprinkle it in the other man’s pouch. Then they stated the terms of their agreement, and shook their salt pouches, mingling the salt together. Shaking the salt pouches was a reminder that the covenant could not be broken, because it was no longer possible to go back and retrieve your salt. Our salt covenant is that we will be committed and being obedient to Christ. This is not a covenant for the faint hearted. But these are not times for lukewarm Christians. Jesus said that you are the salt of the Earth. But if salt loses its saltiness, it is no longer good for anything. Matt 5:13.
God needs men and women who are worth their salt. But far too many Christians in America today have lost their saltiness. They are afraid to stand against the forces of darkness and moral decay. You and I are called to be salt and light to a lost world. To stand up and speak up like soldiers of the cross. Like salt we must combat corruption and endure the criticism when we proclaim God’s truth. God’s truth must be proclaimed, don’t live cowardly. You are called to be salt and light to a lost world, to be soldiers of the cross you cannot live wrong and die right.
