You Are the Salt of the Earth
"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 under foot." This was the Gospel from Tuesday, June 8, 2021.
Before I dive into this piece of scripture and what it has to do with you.
I was on a podcast as a guest last week talking about the 5 Elements of a Strongman -- the foundation which Better Man Blueprint is built on. On the podcast, the conversation of "masculinity" came up.
(You can checkout the episode here after you finish reading this post)
I even asked this question on my personal FB profile a few weeks back.
"What is your definition of masculinity? What does it mean to you?"
And everyone had their own definition (which makes sense, everyones understanding is different). And it (masculinity) seems to be a touchy subject nowadays.
Before I get into my understanding of masculinity.
I wanna share one of today's readings with you.
(And by "readings", I'm not talking about new age, "palm readings")
These are selected readings of sacred scripture from the Roman Missal -- which come from the Bible. Now before you say, "I'm not a religious person" and "I'm only here for the workout stuff"... hear me out, ok?
Because I think the lesson is important -- so much so, I decided to write this post for ya.
Plus.
It ties into what true masculinity is.
After I go through the readings each morning.
I write a reflection with my "take away."
What does it mean for my life?
How I can apply this to my duties as the leader of my 'domestic church' -- my home?
Today's first reading is from the second letter of Saint Paul to the Corinthians.
- Here is the 1st reading in full if you want to check them out for yourself: 2 Corinthians 3:15 - 4:1, 3-6
To give you context.
St. Paul is writing the church at Corinth for the second time because his first letter wasn't clear enough on what they should be doing. It's a personal and emotional letter.
As their spiritual father he -- St. Paul -- is witnessing his spiritual children -- the church at Corinth -- rebel (sound familiar as a parent?).
What stood out to me was chapter 4, verse 6.
"For God who said, 'Let light shine out of darkness', has shone in our hearts to bring to light the knowledge of the glory of God on the face of Jesus Christ."
Now to make sense of this and what I'm gonna share.
You have to back up to Matthew 5: 13-16 where Jesus is talking about being the salt of the earth and being the light.
(13) "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 under foot."
(14) and I paraphrase for brevity, "You are the light of the world, and your light must shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly father."
You see man...
I am the light of the world.
YOU are the light of the world.
I/You are to be the light for our wife, children, and community. To shine for them in darkness... to shine in times of uncertainty. Our light must shine before others.
Our "light" -- and "flavor" -- is our time, talent, and treasure. Our works, our actions -- because faith without works is dead (James 2:14-26). We are to shine light on the glory of God through our service to others.
I/You are to be the salt of our families lives. And we must commit to never losing our taste lest we be thrown out and trampled under foot.
How do we lose our taste?
By losing focus of our purpose, our mission, and identity.
And our purpose is our work and to fully empty ourselves in everything we do out of service to God.
This is the TRUE definition of masculinity.
For a man to fully empty himself for his wife, children, and community -- in service.
To hold nothing back.
(Which was made evident on the Cross where Christ gave EVERYTHING and fully emptied himself for his children)
Men are to strive to be perfect as Our Holy Father is perfect.
In others words...
we are to strive to be the strongest version of ourselves.
To shine.
TRUE masculinity is full of virtue, wisdom, and self-emptying love.
Toxic masculinity is void of virtue, wisdom, and tasteless.
YOU are the salt of the earth.
Shine brother.
hec g.