Let your speech be alway with grace, seasoned with salt,
that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man. Colossians 4:6
Ye are the salt of the earth:
but if the salt have lost his savour,
wherewith shall it be salted?
it is thenceforth good for nothing,
but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men. Matthew 5:13
I love salt
I’m a salt snob
I prefer gourmet salt
And if it’s just table salt,
I rarely use it
Sometimes I will in baked recipes
I have used gourmet salt for many years.
Close to twenty
It tastes different, so much better,
and always adds so much to the flavor of food
Gourmet salt is coarse
so you have to rub it together between your fingers,
otherwise you’ll end up with big chunks of salt,
which can be too much
It has to be just right
There is a place in Victoria, BC,
a restaurant I love, Pagliacci’s
It’s an Italian place
Its walls are strewn with photos of the famous who have visited
Always a wait
They have great food, but their bread is the best, it is amazing
Their bread is always warm and fresh and has kosher salt sprinkled on top
The bread without the salt wouldn’t be the same
and it goes without saying
the salt without the bread wouldn’t be the same either
Most recently, I have been making sure I purchase salt that has iodine in it
I heard from missionaries who went to the Philippines
that they met and prayed for people who had goiters
due to the lack of iodine in their diet
Even though we have iodine in our American diet,
who wants to take the chance of getting a goiter?
So, a few years ago, I started to purchase gourmet salt that has iodine in it
I was delighted to find it even though it was difficult to do
This salt I’m using now is from the Mediterranean Sea
and cultivated from an island in Italy
It’s absolutely delicious and flavors food perfectly
The Covenant of Salt is touched on here:
Ought ye not to know
that the Lord God of Israel gave the kingdom over Israel to David for ever,
even to him and to his sons by a covenant of salt? 2 Chronicles 3:5
All the heave offerings of the holy things,
which the children of Israel offer unto the Lord, have I given thee,
and thy sons and thy daughters with thee,
by a statute for ever:
it is a covenant of salt for ever before the Lord unto thee and to thy seed with thee,
Numbers 18:19
In the Old Testament salt was offered at meals with friends
A salt covenant was a way to join with friends and signified enduring friendship
Did you know that all the offerings to the Lord were to be seasoned with salt?
Salt is much more important to God than we may realize
and had practical purposes as well
Salt is cleansing
Salt is a natural preservative
Salt can be life-giving or healing:
And he went forth unto the spring of the waters,
and cast the salt in there, and said,
Thus saith the Lord,
I have healed these waters;
there shall not be from thence any more death or barren land.
2 Kings 2:21
Salt as death:
Therefore as I live, saith the Lord of hosts,
the God of Israel,
Surely Moab shall be as Sodom,
and the children of Ammon as Gomorrah,
even the breeding of nettles,
and saltpits, and a perpetual desolation:
the residue of my people shall spoil them,
and the remnant of my people shall possess them. Zephaniah 2:9
In some instances, salt is described as death
such as Lot’s wife choosing the world or this scripture
Lot’s wife was turned into a pillar of salt
She could’ve been dust or ashes, but specifically salt
Not much can live in the dead sea
there was also a pit of salt mentioned in the bible
But the miry places thereof and the marishes thereof shall not be healed;
they shall be given to salt. Ezekiel 47:11
Once I had salt in my cupboard I kept for so long it lost its flavor
I immediately thought of Jesus saying if the salt has lost its savor,
wherewith will it be salted?
So salt is vital if we want flavor:
Salt is good: but if the salt have lost his saltness,
wherewith will ye season it?
Have salt in yourselves,
and have peace one with another. Mark 9:50
The metaphor/parable Jesus gave to describe the salt of the kingdom,
the way He gives us to expand or describe or make His word come alive,
more flavorful to the hearer
How do we get that salt?
We can’t produce it
It comes from His Holy spirit
The salt, as with everything,
He is the provider
We must learn how to use it
The best way is, of course, to learn as much as you can about Him
so you can be used by Him,
to recognize His voice, know His word, and keep in unison with Him
so you can realize how much is too much and how much is too little
You never want to use too much salt,
Just enough
In the word, Jesus was the best user of salt
He gave just a bit so that people would be stimulated and interested
I think of this scripture as an example:
Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee,
because thou hast left thy first love. Revelation 2:4
It makes you want to hear more, to know more,
Thinking about losing your first love
are thoughts that can help us to realize how important our love for God is to God
and a good reminder of how we are to stay focused on Him
while we live on earth
and to implore us not get persuaded away
by what we see, hear or experience
Jesus never said too much,
Or not enough but just the right amount, to get us thinking
Like Pagliacci’s bread, the Bread of Life with salt on top