Iron & Altar

You are the salt of the earth. But if salt loses its taste, with what can it be seasoned? It is no longer good for anything but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot. You are the light of the world. A city set on a mountain cannot be hidden. - Matthew 5:13-14

The widow gave from her last. That is the hinge of the miracle - not that she had more than she thought, not that Elijah found a backup supply, but that she gave from the last and the jar did not go empty. The giving before the refilling is the test, and the test precedes the provision.

You are the salt of the earth. Not: be saltier. You are salt. The question is whether the salt has lost its taste - whether the distinctive quality that makes salt useful has been diluted by accommodation to the surrounding flavor. Salt that has lost its taste is worthless. Not sinful. Just useless.

You are the light of the world. Declared, not earned. The instruction that follows is simply: don't put a cover over it. Let it shine. The good works are already there - the question is whether the bushel is over the lamp or the lamp is in the open.

Where has the salt lost its taste in your life - where have you accommodated to the surrounding flavor until the distinctiveness of your faith has blended in? Name it specifically. And name one good work this week that can be let out from under the bushel - visible, specific, giving the Father a chance to be glorified. And carry [name]: Lord, let him be the salt that hasn't lost its taste and the light that isn't covered.

Lord, let the salt keep its taste. Let the light be uncovered. Let the jar not go empty even when I give from the last. Sacred Heart of Jesus, I trust in you. Amen.