Salt’s Impact on Life
Salt, as a substance of earth, has been ubiquitous in our world for millenniums. As a fundamental ingredient to many aspects of life, it has many unique properties for improving and preserving many things we take for granted nowadays.
Salt has been used to preserve meats and other foods when refrigeration or cold storage was not available. It can also melt ice and reduce the temperature of ice when melting as used in cranking out homemade ice cream using the manual method like my family did. When I was growing up, we would sit around in the back yard in a circle, each person taking his or her turn at cranking the ice cream churn with crushed ice and rock salt to eventually produce the homemade vanilla ice cream concoction my father used to love to eat.
When used in recipes, it can expose and enhance the unique flavors of the combined ingredients for the dish or prepared meat. Salt has the curious ability to penetrate the outer coating of a substance to let its true essence come forth. Without salt, our daily meals would be very bland indeed.
Salt also provides the required chemical balance to our bodily functions to ensure our internal systems work properly. The essential minerals in salt act as important electrolytes in the body. They help with fluid balance, nerve transmission and muscle function. It is also the essence of our oceans and seas that helps to maintain the balance of Nature on the land.
Essential Ingredient
Salt is also an essential ingredient for bread-making to bring out or expose its best flavor. To reveal these flavors, it only takes a “pinch” of salt to produce the best outcome for bread baking. Too much salt and the bread is not even edible!!
If you have ever experienced a minor cut on your finger, what do most people instinctively do? You put your finger in your mouth, right? That initial taste of your blood typically has a peculiar saltiness to it because there is a varying amount of sodium (salt) naturally present in your blood. Too much salt in your blood can cause high blood pressure in some people. Too little amounts of salt (hyponatremia) can cause neurologic (brain function) changes such as cerebral edema (excess fluid in the brain, leading to swelling) that may occur with severe or acute hyponatremia, along with other minor to very serious health issues.
You Are the Salt of the Earth
In ancient days, salt was a highly valued commodity because of all its uses in those days. Being described by someone as ‘the salt of the earth’ was quite a compliment because it meant that you were a person of great worth, reliability, and a universal impact for good in the world.
Jesus used the metaphor in Matthew 5:13 to describe the worth of salt to the earth. He used this statement “You are the salt of the earth…” to uniquely describe His disciples. This set of 12 ragtag, mostly uneducated, unskilled men were the new “essence” for God to use in preserving, protecting, and enhancing God’s plan for all mankind. These men were essential in fulfilling God’s intentions for concocting a new, more palatable recipe for both Jews and Gentiles alike. People could now have a new personal relationship with God.
His Son would be the bread of life and His blood would be the drink of the new covenant between God and mankind. It’s the new recipe for all to take and eat, take and drink for the salvation of the world. His Son would be “the Way, the Truth, and the Life” for knowing the Father.
Salt has always been an essential aspect and a valued commodity of life on earth. And in Jesus’ terms, we Christians who take our role of being one of His disciples seriously are likewise considered “the salt of the earth”. We share in the new covenant with God as we profess our faith in Him. We apply our “little pinch of salt” in daily encounters, conversations, actions, writings (texting) and prayers to enhance other people’s lives. This small ingredient helps to bring joy and comfort to others.
Satisfying Food for the Soul
It’s like sitting down to a Sunday dinner of your Mama’s southern fried chicken, mashed potatoes, and gravy, i.e., comfort food. I still remember how wonderfully satisfying that meal was to the palate and to the body from years ago. And so it goes for we disciples of today in bringing the love of Jesus to others and enabling them to be fully satisfied in heart, mind, and soul, by being wrapped in the arms of our loving, merciful Lord. His peace brings lasting comfort to the soul.
So use this day and everyday going forward to add your “little pinch of salt” to someone else’s recipe of life. Use your valuable ingredient to penetrate their outer layer and bring the best out of someone else while enhancing their life in service to the Lord. Then sit back and watch the goodness it brings in glorifying God.
Live, Learn and Grow in Jesus.
Blessings,
Jerry
