Last night we decided to have some popcorn in the evening after dinner. Now for those of you who do not know me, I love theatre-style extra butter popcorn. 
I rarely get it because we rarely go to the theatre. I thought we had some of the “ACT” Microwave popcorn in the pantry that was the extra butter theatre-style popcorn. We didn’t. I knew I was going to be disappointed.
My wife quickly comes to the rescue with traditional stove top popcorn. She gathered all the kiddo’s (yep all 6 of them) around the stove and began to gather all the requisite ingredients: Pan, Popcorn kernels, oil, and of course, SALT. 
They proceed to clang around the kitchen. Side note here sometimes the sounds of 6 kids, six dogs, and the clangy chaos is not a joyful sound. Sometimes it sounds like a dying hyena in the middle of the African Safari. This is not one of those occasions. Listening to family life, both the sounds of the Hyena in the safari and the sounds of little ones making popcorn are the highlight of parenting. Is it always good, nope. Is it always good, ABSOLUTELY.
Now my wife loves extra salty popcorn. I mean EXTRA salty. Like she thinks the salt shaker is not sufficient to add salt to the popcorn with and bring out the big guns: The salt container we use to fill said salt shaker. Apparently, I was not paying attention during this process. Perhaps my joy from the sounds of family life overtook my senses during the popcorn salting endeavors. Needless to say, my wife should not be allowed to salt the popcorn unsupervised. I failed this responsibility.
As we retreated to the living room replete with couches, blankets, and pillows we settled in to watch reruns of “Mountain Men” on National Geography: consumption of the popcorn ensued. And within minutes the “Salty” conversations began, quickly followed by the sounds of children (and me) en masse crying out for “agua” in every language they could muster. “I need a drink”, “Can I have some water?” “Can I have some MORE Water, PLEASE?” desperate cries to quench the thirst that came from the heavy-handed salting of the popcorn.
This is that moment when Holy Spirit speaks: “This is how my disciples should be to the world, and how the world should respond to your flavor: Thirsty for Living Water.” Immediately I was reminded of Jesus’ teaching during the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew. Matthew 5:13 “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men.” and Jesus words to the woman at the well in John 4:9-13 “Then the woman of Samaria said to Him, “How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?” For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans. Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.” The woman said to Him, “Sir, You have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. Where then do You get that living water? Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank from it himself, as well as his sons and his livestock?” Jesus answered and said to her, “Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.” The woman said to Him, “Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw.”
Anyone who has ever made, or even eaten beef jerky knows and understands the preservative nature of salt. or maybe a salt brine for making pickles. Salt has unique qualities that purify (kill bacteria and impurities) foods. It also has unique preservation qualities that provide the ability to store food over long periods of time once “cured” by the application of salt. We experienced this many times with our children and 4-h when they cured a ham for the fair competition.
Salt also has medicinal qualities to heal wounds. It also has flavor qualities that allow us to enjoy foods more. Who doesn’t love a steak with just some salt and pepper for seasoning, seared on a hot grill and then cooked up to a nice medium-well (slightly pink) and eaten with a baked potato on the side, complete with salt, butter, and sour cream. Wow as I write this it almost seems more like a food blog than a spiritual one. Salt makes food taste better.
Salt makes one thirsty. You and I and the saltiness of our lives in the Spirit should be a preservative to the world, should remove impurities, and should even season the world with the flavor of Christ. Share on X
These attributes were not the ones the Lord was sharing with me in our popcorn moments. It was another attribute of salt that He was gently pointing His finger on. Thirstyness. Salt makes one thirsty. You and I and the saltiness of our lives in the Spirit should be a preservative to the world, should remove impurities, and should even season the world with the flavor of Christ. But if our saltiness does not create a thirst for the one who gives living water to drink then our salt is as Jesus said: “It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men.” We need to in our homes, before our children live in such a manner that our children thirst for Christ. We need to live in the world in such a fashion that the world becomes thirsty for the Living Water that only comes from Christ.
Be Salty, Create Thirst!