The Gospel According to the Food Network

Spiritual lessons can often come from the most unlikely places. For me, it’s the Food Network.

Jesus calls us to be like salt and, undoubtedly, many of us have heard countless sermons about the power of salt to flavor and preserve. As I’ve pondered about how to best share Christ with my neighbors, I’ve wondered this: If Jesus came today, might He use my favorite chefs’ expertise as modern-day examples of how to share and how to be salt?

Giada DeLaurentis instructs me to season every layer. She has taught me that salt adds much more flavor to my food if I add it gradually during the cooking process—layer after layer—rather than dumping in a full portion all at once. Adding salt gradually allows the time necessary for best absorption.

The salt—God’s presence and character—needs to permeate my own life, constantly and consistently, as I bring the best of my life gradually to others. Not by way of dumping speeches or Facebook posts, but gradually through every layer and every touch of authentic relationship and real friendship.

The Barefoot Contessa always reminds me that salt enhances the flavor of everything it touches, making food taste more of how it should. You don’t taste the salt, you taste the food at its very best. Even chocolate tastes more “chocolatey” by adding a dash of salt.

If salt makes food taste more of how it was originally intended to taste, how does a life become what it was originally intended to be: in relationship with the God who made it? My actions must point to Jesus. HE alone makes us wholly who we were always meant to be. None of us can become that ourselves. My prayer is that the salty dashes of love and acceptance I sprinkle on my neighbors points them to the One who is the Author and Perfecter of their lives.

Anne Burrell always takes the time to pause and breathe in what she’s cooking, and I love how she gets excited about “all that good stuff that’s happening” as the flavors do their magic dance together. In great cooking, developing full flavors takes time.

We’d all love for every Sunday to be like the day of Pentecost. But when it comes to sharing Christ, it seems today that most people need time to allow truths to absorb into their understanding. They get a dose of faulty, briny religion almost every day in the media but we are called to give them the REAL SALT of God’s love, grace and truth. I need to remember to give that salt time to do its magic dance in their lives.

Recently, I’ve been reading Ephesians 1—3 and mulling over its constant theme to be in Christ. Only by abiding in Christ—through His Word, conversation and community—will I maintain good saltiness. Immersed in God’s good salt, I don’t have to hunt for a way to turn a conversation to the things of God. Instead, love and grace tend to just sprinkle out in the form of an easier love and a relaxed grace as conversations about faith and values are brought up by others. I simply get to join the conversation, shake out some salt and share how tasty it is to know God.

Pursue being God’s good salt today. And watch what happens.

Becky Henchman
Friend of Q Place
and Blogger at Eat.Play.Thaw