Sharing Salt

The predawn morning had come to a sweaty end as a group of gladiators crushed a workout to prepare for the challenges ahead.

Our trainer suggested we air-five instead of slapping sweaty hands, but there’s a certain camaraderie in sharing sweat. If you survived August two-a-days or building fence sun-up to sundown, you get it.

Sharing sweat, or salt specifically, is an ancient tradition. Sharing salt in a meal represented family, fellowship, loyalty, commitment. Much of which gets me out of bed for these five am sessions.

But salt was much more. It was a valuable commodity. Not specifically used as currency but as a measure of what you were paid. Our word salary is rooted in the Latin word for salt and if you are worth your salt, it means you earned your keep.

I paused to catch my breath, my feet surrounded by puddles of what poured out of my body. As the oppressive summer sun reached its perch, evaporation left remnants… salt.

But anything worthwhile costs some of what you are.

Blood.
Sweat.
Or good old-fashioned elbow grease.

Jesus said, “You are the salt of the earth. But if salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It’s no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.” Matthew 5:13

I always thought Jesus meant salt as the seasoning.
But salt was used for preservation, purification, and covenant. It was valuable in so many ways.

You are the salt of the earth.
God made you to be.

But if you don’t live what makes you special, your salt will lose its taste. Salt in a shaker does nothing but stick to the bottom. It only has value when it’s poured out, whether that be on a plate or out of every inch of you as you fight the good fight.

Season all your grain offerings with salt. Do not leave the salt of the covenant of your God out of your grain offerings; add salt to all your offerings. Leviticus 2:13

Add salt to all your offerings.

Sacrifice costs us something.

Jesus sacrificed and it cost Him everything.

His sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground. Luke 22:44

Jesus shared His salt… all of it.

For us.