Decaf Christianity

When Trista and I got married, I quickly learned how she took her coffee. As her husband, it was a major responsibility to ensure she was adequately caffeinated according to her exact specifications. At home in the morning: a dark roast pod through the machine, with the “strong” button selected. Before dropping the kids off at school: same recipe, but dispensed into her travel mug. At the donut shop: large dark roast, two cream, one sugar, and don’t forget the sleeve. At the coffee shop: decaf americano, with room. If she was feeling adventurous: add a single shot of hazelnut syrup, as long as it’s not too sweet. Special occasions: green tea latte (which I like to call “swamp water”). In autumn: pumpkin-spiced latte, no foam. Nighttime: peppermint tea in her extra large pink-flower-print mug (any other cup is unacceptable). 

Trista isn’t unique with respect to her beverages of choice. Caffeinated drinks are the lifeblood of Western society. Need to wake up in the morning? A cup of coffee, please. Catching up with an old friend? Better have a selection of instant pods. First one at the office? Put on a pot. Visiting your grandma? She’ll have tea ready before you walk in the door. Cramming for a final exam? Stock up on energy drinks before you hit the books. Nowadays, caffeine is the most widely used drug in the world. Our brains have become so wired to enjoy it that we’ve been conditioned to enjoy the bitter fluids caffeine comes in. They’re so ingrained in our culture that even decaffeinated alternatives are widely enjoyed — even when we don’t want the caffeine, we even enjoy the memory of it. Caffeinated beverages generate nearly a trillion dollars in revenue annually, and that number is only increasing. Considering most soda (Coke, Pepsi, etc.) also has some, it can be tricky to find a popular beverage without caffeine. Every workplace, every home, every restaurant, every food store, every gas station — caffeine is absolutely everywhere. 

There is simply nothing that compares to the role of caffeine in modern society. However, in ancient society, prior to the widespread consumption of coffee and tea, a single commodity ruled the world. Throughout human history, even until the last century, salt was everything.

THE HISTORY OF SALT

It’s a simple formula: common table salt is made of a single positively-charged sodium ion tightly bound to a negatively-charged chloride ion. NaCl is the chemical formula. A clear, white crystal at room temperature, it easily dissolves in water. 

All life is dependent on salt, which contributes two of the major electrolytes in cells. And yet, if levels aren’t carefully balanced, salt can be lethal. In ages past, armies would scatter it on enemy fields to render the land infertile. Egyptians used plenty of salt in their mummification process to prevent bacteria from growing, thereby preserving corpses for millennia. Similarly, salt was the primary means of preserving food (especially meat). Refrigeration didn’t become popular until relatively recently, so unless you were butchering an animal every day, a steady supply of salt was necessary to feed your family throughout the year. 

Salt was (and still is) the most common seasoning. Read the ingredients of any processed food and you’ll find salt in one form or another. Virtually every recipe includes it. Most people can’t fathom eating an egg without a generous dash, nor would any barbecuer worth their salt (pardon the pun) consider bringing meat off the grill without dousing it with sauce or seasoning. 

Nowadays, salt is easily produced, inexpensive, and readily available, but that hasn’t always been the case. Production occurred in two ways. First, evaporating seawater in saltpans produced crystals that could be collected. The Natron Valley of Egypt was a depression 75 feet below sea level where shallow lakes evaporated to produce vast salt deposits. This is where sodium derives its chemical symbol (“Na” from “Natron”). Second, rock salt can be mined from the ground. The Austrian city of Salzburg literally means “salt castle” — the whole metropolis was built around the salt mines of the nearby Dürrnberg plateau. After it was produced, merchants transported it along trade routes to virtually every marketplace in the world. In ancient Rome, the Via Salaria was a network of roads that supplied salt from the seaside to cities inland. Every ancient nation had its own source and system of distribution for salt.

As such, salt has always been big business. The English word “salary” comes from the Latin salarium, which was money paid to Roman soldiers to purchase goods. When access to salt is disrupted, civil unrest soon follows — major revolutions in France and India have erupted over the price and distribution of salt. In ages past, access to salt was power. 

As big as coffee is today, salt was bigger throughout the majority of human history. “Coffeeholics” might think they wouldn’t survive without a cup of joe, but after a few days of headaches, they’d probably be just fine — miserable and sleepy, but alive. However, all of humanity needs salt. Period. Every living thing on earth would die without it. Right up there with oxygen and water, life on earth is completely dependent upon salt.

BEING THE SALT (AND CAFFEINE) OF THE EARTH

When Jesus said “You are the salt of the earth,” it was a loaded statement. Nowadays, he might have said, “You are the caffeine of the earth” with a similar effect. In the same ways that salt and caffeine are staples of human culture, godliness (i.e. having the character of Christ) is vitally important to the wellbeing of the world. 

1. 1. Christlikeness preserves the world. Before refrigeration, any unsalted food would quickly spoil. Caffeine allows drivers to stay awake on the road, students to study through the night, and countless millions of non-morning-people to perk up. Believers, however, are being preserved and invigorated by the Lord.

For the Lord loves justice; he will not forsake his saints. They are preserved forever. (Ps 37:28)

Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you. (Eph 5:14)

Without salt/caffeine, our souls rot away. But faith-filled godly living by the power of the Holy Spirit leads to eternal life.

The one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. (Gal 6:8)

Furthermore, God is preserving the whole world, at least temporarily, for the sake of believers, both current and those yet to be saved.

The Lord said, “If I find at Sodom fifty righteous in the city, I will spare the whole place for their sake.” (Gen 18:26) 

The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. (2 Pet 3:9)

The world is rotten, but the Holy Spirit working through believers actively preserves it.

1. 2. Christlikeness flavors the world. Nobody eats an egg or meat without some sort of seasoning — salt brings out the unique flavor of each food. Similarly, caffeine comes in so many varieties — coffee, tea, energy drinks, soda — that our world would become completely bland without such beverages. Faith in Christ allows each of us to become more ourselves. No longer slaves to sin or selfishness, our true colors (i.e. flavor) can shine as we grow into the people God made us to be.

Now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. (Rom 6:22)

There’s nothing that satisfies a human heart like walking with the Lord. Peace, hope, joy — these are only experienced to the fullest with God.

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope. (Rom 15:13)

Those who reflect the character of Christ flavor the whole world. 

1. 3. Christlikeness is valuable. The caffeine industry generates billions; the ancient salt industry generated even more. But beyond any earthly riches, godliness is priceless. 

Godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come. (1 Tim 4:8)

Jesus taught that seeking God’s kingdom is like a pearl merchant selling all he owned to obtain a “pearl of great value” (Mt 13:46). Similarly, developing a godly character, and the wisdom that goes with it, is worth more than any earthly treasure.  

Blessed is the one who finds wisdom, and the one who gets understanding, for the gain from her is better than gain from silver and her profit better than gold. She is more precious than jewels, and nothing you desire can compare with her.  (Prov 3:13-15)

Godly living stores up treasure in heaven. Developing spiritual saltiness/caffeination is the best investment we could ever make. 

1. 4. Christlikeness must be transported. In the Roman Empire, highways were constructed to transport salt throughout the land. Similarly, believers live as salt and light (and caffeine) to bring the gospel to the farthest reaches of the earth.

This gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come. (Mt 24:14)

Receiving the message of Christ is the starting point for developing godliness, which is why the Bible tells us repeatedly to share the gospel.

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. (Mt 28-19-20)

These four ways — value, flavor, preservation, transport — are how believers are the salt (and caffeine) of the earth. 

SALTLESSNESS

On the flip side, Christ actually spends more time describing the opposite: the danger of being saltless. 

If salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet. (Mt 5:13)

Salt is good, but if the salt has lost its saltiness, how will you make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another. (Mk 9:49-50)

[Salt without saltiness] is of no use either for the soil or for the manure pile. It is thrown away. (Lk 14:35)

Two different Greek terms are used here. Mark uses analos, translating literally to “without salt” or “saltless”. However, Matthew and Luke use moraino, meaning “bland” or “tasteless.” Moraino could also mean “foolish,” as Paul quotes later in the New Testa­ment: “Professing to be wise, they became foolish (moraino)” (Rom 1:22).  

What is salt without saltiness? A grainy substance without purpose. It’s sand. In the land Jesus walked, sand was worthless. It had no use except to be swept out of the house and trampled underfoot. 

So, to get back to Jesus’ question: once salt loses its flavor, what can make it salty again? The blood of Christ, through the power of the Holy Spirit, is what makes us salty. If that is lost, through willful rejection of the Lord, what then is greater than Christ’s blood to restore our spiritual flavor? The answer, of course, is nothing. 

It would be better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn away from the holy commandment handed on to them. (2 Pet 2:21)

This is the essence of hypocrisy. This is what decaf Christianity is all about. 

DECAF CHRISTIANITY

Decaffeinated drinks are all over the place. My wife won’t drink regular coffee past the early afternoon because caffeine will keep her from falling asleep later that night. So she switches to decaf coffee or caffeine-free tea, with all the same taste but none of the potency. 

Some people seem godly on the outside — they may call themselves Christians and attend church regularly — but they lack spiritual potency. Similarly, there are many religious practices that are only surface deep. Weddings and funerals in Western society often involve Christian traditions and occur in churches. The crucial ingredient — the Holy Spirit shaping our character to be more like Jesus — is conspicuously absent. Deep down, where it matters, the spiritual saltiness is lacking.

The Pharisees of Jesus’ day had this problem.

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people's bones and all uncleanness. (Mt 23:27)

Decaf Christianity is all about having the appearance of godliness, but the Holy Spirit simply isn’t there. A godless lifestyle proves souls are analos and moraino — saltless and bland. Their ability to flavor and preserve the world is zero. They taste like coffee but they are unable to awaken others from spiritual slumber. 

Decaffeinated Christians are dead asleep, often blind to their own saltlessness. Instead, they reveal their godlessness by how they live.

People will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. (2 Tim 3:2-5)

They talk the talk, but don’t walk the walk. 

Hypocrites aren’t fooling anyone, except maybe themselves. A tree is known by its fruit. The only way to have the character of Christ is through Christ. Unbelievers can discern fakeness a mile away. As Brennan Manning said, 

The greatest single cause of atheism in the world today is Christians: who acknowledge Jesus with their lips, walk out the door, and deny Him by their lifestyle. That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable.

Sometimes whole churches, like the one in ancient Sardis, are living a lie. 

I know your works. You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead. Wake up, and strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your works complete in the sight of my God. (Rev 3:1-2)

The members looked like Christians, sounded like them, but there was something missing. That crucial, powerful ingredient was absent, and therefore their goodness was lacking.

Signs of decaffeinated, saltless Christianity include:

• • • Inconsistent Bible reading. Like, less than four days per week. 

    • Minimal personal prayer. Jesus would spend whole nights praying by himself. Do we even talk to God once a day? 

    • Lack of involvement in our local church. 

    • Our faith is a secret. Friends and relatives don’t know (or would be surprised to hear) that we love Jesus.  

    • Easily angered. Holding grudges. 

    • Gossip.

    • Inconsistent tithing. 

    • Lack of volunteerism. It doesn’t matter if it’s in the church or elsewhere, doing things for the good of others without any compensation is what loving your neighbor is all about. 

There are many ways to be Christlike, to shine light in a dark world, but those of us who have lost our caffeine — saltless, analos — aren’t living up to our potential as followers of Jesus. 

SUMMARY

To paraphrase Jesus, “if coffee has lost its caffeine, it’s no good for anything. Pour it down the sink!” 

As such, let’s regularly ask ourselves: are we watered down or lukewarm? Where is the evidence of Jesus in our lives? How are we expanding or strengthening the kingdom of God? Are we on the front lines, or comfy in bed at home? Are we a threat to the darkness? Does the Devil see us as a kitten or a tiger? Do we experience persecution or spiritual oppression? A dim wick or a blazing light for Christ? Are we flavored with the Holy Spirit, or are we bland like the rest of the world?

All of us are guilty of being decaffeinated sometimes — we all fail to live out our faith in a fallen world. However, the saltiest believers are the ones who keep trying. Keep praying, keep reading the Bible, keep showing patience and grace to those who don’t deserve it. What’s important is not so much what we do but that we keep doing something. Nor should our faith ever be hidden.

You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. (Mt 5:14-16)

Salt or sand. Ultra-caffeinated dark roast, or bitter brown water. An awareness of hypocrisy is the first step in avoiding it. Only then will we be the salt and caffeine of the earth. 

Like Jesus.

© D. B. Ryen Incorporated, September 2025.

All Scripture quotations are from The English Standard Bible (ESV), Crossway, 2001.