Salt preserves and flavors — but salt that loses its saltness is useless. Jesus commands His followers to maintain their distinctive, preserving character: costly discipleship, purity, and integrity that resist corruption. And the fruit of that inner saltiness is outward: “have peace one with another.”
Mark 9:50 KJV“Salt is good: but if the salt have lost his saltness, wherewith will ye season it? Have salt in yourselves, and have peace one with another.”
Read Mark 9 →
Jesus commands two things together: be salt — have genuine, preserving, flavoring character — and be at peace with one another. Salt that creates only conflict has lost its purpose. Think about your relationships within the body of Christ: are you a source of peace? Are there tensions in your Christian community that you have contributed to, or left unaddressed when you could have pursued peace?
You know the person in the body of Christ where peace is broken. Go to them today. Not to win, not to be heard, but to pursue reconciliation. Have the hard conversation. Seek understanding. Be salt that preserves, not salt that wounds. Do it now, without conditions, letting your integrity guide you toward actual peace.
This command confronts the cycle of blame and division. When you pursue peace with integrity, you replace bitterness with reconciliation. You reflect the Father's character, who reconciles and makes whole. This obedience builds community where truth and harmony flourish together.
This is one of 69 direct commands of Jesus in the free Red Letter Challenge: All Commands of Jesus — The Living Sword
Read every Scripture in your chosen translation (WEB, KJV, Geneva, YLT, and more) at https://www.thelivingsword.org/red-letter-challenge/have-salt-in-yourselves