Salt is necessary for life, but too much salt kills. Jesus used salt as a picture of how a small minority in the world accomplishes a great deal of good and what happens when that salt loses its saltiness.
When God judges His people, He never dispenses punishment as an end in itself but as a means to an end. Hebrews 12:5-13 expounds this truth as clearly as any passage in scripture. If you are under chastisement, take to heart these steps of obedience as suggested by this passage.
Even in the Old Testament, much of the relationship between God and His people was based on love. God definitely loved them and they were expected to respond to Him in like kind. Yet, as today, when they began to waver from the Lord, God started getting their second-best. They gave Him the leftovers.
No one should ever be forced to believe in Jesus Christ as Saviour.
Christ the Firstfruits
