Matthew 5:13: "You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot."

It really happened.

I was sitting in church a few Sundays ago, listening as Pastor Joe discussed the Sermon on the Mount, when he read Matthew 5:13.

"You are the salt of the earth," He said.

I'm the salt of the earth? What does that even mean? I thought. As I began to ponder the ideas that were filling my mind, a soft smile crept over my face and I began to laugh internally.

In the midst of thinking all things serious, my brain had comically made the connection: If I'm the salt of the earth, then Jesus is basically telling me that I can be 'salty', right?

As my attention slowly veered back to the sermon, I held my soft smile and periodically laughed at my "salty" mid-service pun.

For all of my non-millennial readers, "salty", as defined by Urban Dictionary, is "being bitter toward someone or something." Although the connection between salt of the earth and the popularized term "salty" have dramatically different connotations, my brain was onto something before I even knew it.

If Jesus calls me to be "salty," then what does that really mean?

As children of God, were are all called to be the salt and the light of the earth (Matthew 5:13-16). Rather, we are called to preserve the world. In Bible days, salt was used as a preservative for meat and other products that we can now refrigerate. So, as salty human beings, we are literally called to prevent the rot of everything that is deteriorating around us.

In Matthew 5:14, Jesus said, "You are the light of world." In our dim, rapidly decaying world, we are chosen to grab hold of the grace of God and shine His light into the world!

We have received our light through the grace of Jesus Christ...a grace that our sinful nature doesn't deserve, but it is so sweetly given. Through faith in Christ and His sacrifice for our sins, we are shown God's everlasting love for us. We are called to relish in God's love and brightly share the good news for everyone we come in contact with to see.

We are called to be "salty," light-shining human beings of God, and I couldn't think of a more perfect or prestigious calling.