I Was Wrong

On March 4, I wrote a post ("What Can Salt Do?") which indicated that salt cannot reverse the process of corruption; it can merely slow the process. I implied that Christians, as the salt of the earth, cannot reverse the corruption within our societies; we can only slow the process.

However, I have been reading through the New Living Translation of the Bible this year. When I came across 2 Kings 2:19-22, I realized that I had been wrong about my understanding of the effects of salt. When it has the miraculous power of God behind it, salt can reverse the process of corruption. This has huge implications for the people whom Jesus called the "salt of the earth."

Here is the text:

"One day the leaders of the town of Jericho visited Elisha. 'We have a problem, my lord,' they told him. 'This town is located in pleasant surroundings, as you can see. But the water is bad, and the land is unproductive.'

"Elisha said, 'Bring me a new bowl with salt in it.' So they brought it to him. Then he went out to the spring that supplied the town with water and threw the salt into it. And he said, 'This is what the LORD says: I have purified this water. It will no longer cause death or infertility.' And the water has remained pure ever since, just as Elisha said" (2 Kings 2:19-22, NLT).