For everyone will be salted with fire.
Salt is a good thing, but if salt has become insipid,
how can you season it again?
Have salt in yourselves and be at peace with one another.
Mark 9:49-50
“Have salt in yourselves and be at peace with one another.”
What does Jesus mean by this? Those of us who cook know that too little salt makes food somewhat tasteless and it becomes insipid, while too much salt will ruin the food and it becomes inedible. Salt is a seasoning and a preservative.
Is Jesus trying to tell us that the right amount of spiritual saltiness is needed? In our relationship with God and others, if our spiritual saltiness is insipid, the peace we seek will also be insipid and our relationships will not be preserved.
On the other hand, if our spiritual saltiness is over bearing, God and others whom we want to be in relationship with will be put off by the brine and the crusty residue that brine leaves.
The question we have to ask ourselves is how do we develop this balance of spiritual saltiness that leads to peace?
(c) 2018 Donnie Hawley
