The problem with the world is not the crooked politicians, greedy oil executives, perverted moviemakers or biased news reporters. It’s not racism, pornography, homosexuality or alcoholism. We Christians like to point the figure at all of them in hopes that we can lay the blame at their feet, but as I learned in kindergarten, when you point at someone else, there’s three fingers pointing back at you. The church is failing the world, and many of the problems the world is experiencing is because the church is not what it is supposed to be. Jesus teaches that as His followers, we are the salt of the earth. We most often think of salt as something that provides flavor, but it does other things as well. Salt makes a person thirsty, can be used for healing, and preserves food from rotting. Jesus only mentions its flavor because that is how one determines whether or not salt is useful for these other things. This was especially true in the days of Christ. Salt was not pure and refined the way it is today. Since it was simply sea water with all the moisture removed, salt had many insoluble impurities. As a result, some salt was more salty, and therefore, more valuable. They judged the worth of salt by its flavor. Similarly, the church is supposed to be full of flavor by living out the Beatitudes (Matt 5:3-12). If we do this, the world will want a taste of what we have (Ps 34:8), and will develop a thirst for God. In this way, disciples will be agents of healing for hurt lives and preservation in a decaying society. But Jesus warns about the salt losing its flavor. Once the flavor was used up, it could not be seasoned again. When salt tasted more like sand, it was judged to be good for nothing, and so was thrown out and trampled underfoot by men. This is what is happening to the church today. Though many churches are quite large, most of them did not become that way by being salty. They became that way by learning how to market the church according to worldly patterns. The church has become so much like the world, that in many cases, it is no different than the world, and is therefore ineffective in the world. We have lost our flavor. The Greek word for salt losing its flavor (mo„raino„) can so mean “become foolish” and so this may be a play on words by Jesus. We have lost our saltiness so they are trampling us underfoot in their mad dash toward death. We accuse the world of being full of death and decay, when it is we who have failed to preserve and heal. And instead of being salt, we are only left-over impurities—gritty, annoying, and irritating. Thankfully, more in line with how salt is produced today, a disciple can regain his saltiness and can even become more salty through the refining process. There is some crushing, grinding and melting involved, but if we endure the process, we will come out pure, white and full of flavor. The whole world will want what we've got because true Christianity gives flavor to life and helps preserve the world. The problems with the world can be fixed, and it all begins with you. How? Go back and read again the Beatitudes and pray that God will begin to develop those attitudes in your own life. Pray that He will “resalt” you as you become His disciple. Remember, there is no such thing as a salt-substitute. We are all that the world has got.