Salted with Fire

“Everyone will be salted with fire. Salt is good, but if salt becomes insipid, with what will you restore its flavor? Keep salt in yourselves and you will have peace with one another.” 

Mark 9:49

“Salted with fire”. How can we all be salted with fire? It seems we will be purified, then purified again! I think this means that everyone of us, with no exceptions, will have our own cross to bear. But I do believe our crosses are chosen specially for us. 

Salt and fire are purifiers. Fire is used to refine gold, remove its impurities. The gold melts when heated and all the impurities like base metals float to the surface where they can be removed. When all the impurities are gone, then we are left with 24 karat gold. 

When I get a sore throat, I usually gargle with salt and warm water. Saltwater can destroy fungi, bacteria, and all sorts of irritants in the throat. It neutralizes acids that builds up in the throat and thus helps to balance the pH level to prevent disease. 

Salt was also useful back when there were no refrigerators. People used to pack fish and meat in salt to preserve it. Easily, we understand when Jesus spoke about Christians being the salt of the earth (Matthew 5:13), He meant that we were to be “preservatives” of this decaying world. That’s why we read in 2 Chronicles 7:14, “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” 

So there were many things Jesus meant when He said everyone will be salted with fire. He will not only purify and sanctify us, we are also to serve as a preservative that will stop or at least delay the moral and spiritual decay of this world. We should not lose our purity or we will not be able to “flavor” or be a blessing to others.