Salting Christian Fiction

In the same way, those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples. “Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile; it is thrown out.  “Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.” (Luke 14:33-35 NIV)


Salt is for savoring. It has a unique flavor all it's own, but the purpose of salt is to bring out the best of the taste of the rest of your food. If it overpowers the food with too much saltiness, the food is no longer savory, but inedible.


As Christian writers, we feel the urge to salt our stories with the grace and truth of Christ. It is compelling, and our purpose. If we put nothing into our stories of Jesus, it will likely be bland. But if we put too much preaching into our stories, we lose the audience with our saltiness. Just like with cooking, it's a delicate balance.


Salt is good: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be seasoned? (Luke 14:34 KJV )


You can't then add anything to your writing that will save it, once you've over-salted it. I am struggling to find the balance with  my fiction now. As a non-fiction writer, the right amount of saltiness is so much easier to judge, but with fiction, we have to juggle realism with the truth of Christ.  So let us be careful to put just enough in to bring out the best of our stories.