We were at a cheese-maker’s. Its small museum contained some old-fashioned tools used to make cheese years ago, and we could watch the current process through windows.
The basic methods have not changed: churning, curds, whey and preservation.
Cheese was made in Israel—the ‘land flowing with milk and honey’ (Exodus 3:8). It is mentioned as early as the book of Job. Being in terrible suffering Job complains: Did you not pour me out like milk and curdle me like cheese? (Job 10:10).
Salt
Through the windows we saw huge vats which could hold 3,000 litres of milk and produce a tonne of cheese. We saw salt being added to the cheese curds to enhance the flavour and to preserve the cheese.
We were reminded of Jesus Christ’s words: ‘You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet’ (Matthew 5:13). And the Apostle Paul’s words: ‘Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person’ (Colossians 4:6).
Mould
Bacteria can be present in cheese during the maturing process, and uncontrolled growth of the wrong mould would render the cheese inedible. However, ‘good’ mould is used to make blue cheese—one egg-cup of liquid is sufficient for a huge vat.
Like mould, leaven has a far-reaching effect. Jesus also said, ‘The kingdom of heaven is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, till it was all leavened’ (Matthew 13:33). And Paul warned, ‘Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?’ (1 Corinthians 5:6).
Like salt and mould, what we say can have a massive influence on other people (Proverbs 15:1–4, 25:11–15; James 3:1–12). We are responsible for our words (Matthew 12:34–37). Our bad influence could corrupt not only ourselves but others (Proverbs 6:16–19). We can even corrupt the words of God and turn them into ‘lies’ (Romans 1:25).
It is therefore important that we try to have a good influence. So we must read God’s words in the Bible and try to be true to them. It is a matter of life and death. Jesus said in Matthew 12:37:
By your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.
Anna Hart