The Purpose of Salt

My over-a-year old phone (brand withheld) does not belong yet to the new genre of smart-phones proliferating the tech-lode shops of today but I can say that all my personal needs for a handy phone are still met.

Phone Calls
SMS
WAP ready
Games
Phonebook
Music in 2G card memory
Built-In Camera / Video / Sound recording
Calendar
Alarm / Timer
Calculator
Blue-tooth
Call logs
Long-life battery
Personalized settings

One day, I accidentally drop it on a rocky surface and so it suffered an “amnesia”. All call logs and history were gone and the phone book addresses are totally erased so I have to reload them, which happens unfortunately at least three times a day. I dismissed these as just shock glitches due to its fall.

On the third day after its fall, the personalized settings were changed back to default but some call logs were now appearing. The phone book is still forgetful though. But since the most important function of all – making calls and sending SMS were still intact, I told mys elf that it is still usable.

The axe came down on the fifth day – there is no more network connection, no SMS function or no incoming and outgoing calls is possible. My colleague sent me an important SMS and I never received it. Another colleague was calling me and just receive a voice prompt that my mobile is allegedly “off”. Our company boss was also calling me from overseas to no avail.

So now it is as simple as that - because my mobile phone has turned into nothing else but a handy alarm/calculator/camera gadget - it should now go. And to make things worst, even its own original-brand battery pack was not recognized anymore by its charger. It is just a matter of minutes when my mobile phone will totally go “kaputt” on me.

Matthew 5:13 reminded us that“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."

The more we deviate from our heavenly design, the more meaningless and purpose-less our lives will become. We can brag about how much wealth we have accumulated, how many cars we are driving, how tranquil and beautiful our place of residency is and how many investments we are earning money from. We can claim all of life's successes in terms of educational excellence, peer accolades and honor and plaques of recognition. Like in today's smart-phones, these are all but features and additional functions of our life-design.

So what is our main purpose then, our ultimate rationale for living?

When one scholar of the Jewish law asked Jesus what is the greatest commandment, he was actually asking about the main foundation of our existence.

And so Jesus answered him, “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second is: You shall love your neighbor as yourself." (Matthew 22:37-39)

Have we gone astray from these two powerful and life-fulfilling tenets of living?
Then we have become like salt that have lost its taste.

Dear Friends, this coming Lenten season is yet another opportune time to make good self-examination of conscience and realignment of our priorities in life. And by the grace of God, we should all come again to this realization and renewed commitment - Loving God is foremost and loving humanity is top-most. Everything else will just follow.

God bless.