Enhancing Others’ Lives

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus uses two sensory-rich descriptions for the people who are his disciples. He states, “You are the salt of the earth. … You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden” (Matthew 5:13–14). Those who trust in Jesus, therefore, are comparable to salt and light. And both descriptions are apt when we think of our neighborhood. Salt is a preservative. Salt can be added to something such as pork to give it a longer shelf life (living longer). In this clip from a MasterClass on cooking, chef Thomas Keller points out that salt enhances flavor:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDGTTfyzSiU. If you think of flavor as the quality of life, then we should be doing what we can to enhance the quality of life, as well as preserving and lengthening the lives of those around us. The final point about salt is this: it has to be integrated into the food. Salt in a saltshaker, sitting next to a steak, will never make any difference to the steak. It has to be rubbed into the meat and become embedded in it.