Salt has a number of very positive characteristics that makes it a good object lesson for how we as believers should be.

Salt adds flavor. Job 6:6 asks, “Can flavorless food be eaten without salt?” We should live in such a way that others will see that our lives are full of flavor, satisfying and desirable.

Salt makes one thirsty. There is a saying, “You can bring a horse to water but you can’t make it drink.” To this, someone once answered, “Yes you can: just put salt in its food, and it will drink.” So too, our lives should be such that they cause a thirst in the heart of those around us—a thirst for the Word of God, a thirst for that which satisfies, a thirst for eternal life, a thirst for the Lord (Jn. 4:13–14).

Salt is used in many tropical countries to preserve. A proper application of layers of salt to fish preserves it for many months. Our lives should be such that they slow or prevent decay. Are our lives a positive preserving influence in our sphere of contact?

Salt is also for healing. We know that salt was often used in the treatment of wounds or infections. Elisha directed that a quantity of salt was to be poured into Jericho’s contaminated undrinkable springs, which then healed them (2 Ki. 2:21). There are many around us who are hurting, and we should be a healing agent to those who are wounded or in various types of distress, like the Good Samaritan who helped the one in need.

The Old Testament talks about a covenant of salt as something that is permanent (Num. 18:19). Our lives should have the same quality, being salt of the earth. We should be ones who can be depended upon, ones who do not break or change our words.

May we be admonished by Colossians 4:6, “Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt.”