Perhaps you have seen the bag of popcorn that is a cheddar cheese and caramel popcorn mix.  Both salty and sweet, the perfect combo. If you are blessed enough to have a membership to Costco, you can get the big bag about the size of a two-year-old.

Would it surprise you that there is a command in the Bible to be salty? Well, it did me! Mark 9:50 reads:

“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.”

There you have it, “have salt in yourselves.”  Salt is essential for life. Our bodies need a specific amount of it to function.  It is a preserver of food and a flavor-enhancing agent.  Salt lowers the freezing temperature of water and is used to help keep drivers safe on icy roads.  Salt is also used in a multitude of other areas throughout daily life.  It is important and needful.

You, dear reader, are that bit of salt.  You are essential to someone.  You are the one who will preserve another and encourage them to keep going.  You are the parent that tosses some salt on the icy hearts of your children, reminding them that God is in control and pointing their eyes back to Him.  You are the Sunday School teacher that is building and preserving a legacy of staying in your spot, teaching, and training the next generation. You are the deacon and deacon’s wife that will serve and lift those who are suffering, encouraging them to be faithful and to keep trusting in the Unseen Hand.  You are the staff member that is essential to the ministry you are in. Just stay in your spot and have salt in yourself.

Too much salt will corrode, cause swelling, and be harmful.  Isn’t it just like our Lord to know this and therefore give us the last part of the command, “have peace one with another.” In other words, be sweet.  Don’t swell with pride, and don’t allow bitterness to corrode you.  Be humble enough to realize that we need daily provision from the Throne of Grace. The perfect combo is salty and sweet: enough salt to preserve us in our daily, but not too much as to be a hindrance.

The next time you buy that bag of cheddar and caramel popcorn, perhaps you can remember the command, be salty and sweet.

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Miriam Chung, Christian School Teacher

Mrs. Chung grew up around the work of the ministry and now has the privilege of teaching at the North Valley Baptist Schools. She and her husband faithfully teach young people and are a vital asset to the ministry of NVBC.