The coolest of stories was posted on www.FoxBusiness.com this past weekend (Saturday, October 16, 2021). It was titled “Why Bread Bags Have Different Color Twist Ties”. According to the writer, Ann Schmidt, the simple reason for this is that each color reportedly represents the day of the week that the bread was baked.
In other words, it all has to do with just how fresh the bread is. Whether they be twist ties or plastic tags on loaves of bread, they are put there to indicate on which day of the week the enwrapped loaf was produced.
The article goes on to cite the Reader’s Digest website in asserting that there is, in fact, an entire color code for bread production, with each color representing a different day of the week on which a particular loaf of bread came out of the oven, with blue tags indicating the bread was baked on Monday; green tags indicating Tuesday; red tags indicating Thursday; white tags indicating Friday; and yellow tags indicating Saturday.
It also seems that most commercial bakeries are closed on Sunday and Wednesday, which explains why those days of the week do not have specific colors assigned to them. Thus, each color reportedly represents a different day that the bread was baked.
Moreover, the reason bakeries color-code their twist ties and tags is to help employees (their own as well as store owners) to quickly identify stale loaves and replace them with fresh ones. This is also the reason that it is unlikely most of us ever see more than two colors on any given store shelf.
While this system is by no means universal, given that some local bakeries have their own systems, it is still “widely used at commercial bread bakeries across the country”.
As I reflected on this tidbit of information, I was reminded that the Bible often employs metaphors regarding bread. Chief among these is when Jesus told us that He was the bread of life which came down out of Heaven. It follows that we who are believers are purveyors of that very Bread. And while the Bread of Life does not diminish or grow old, the methods to share Him and His message can and often do.
Perhaps this is precisely why Jesus also used metaphors about the importance of freshness. A classic example is that of salt losing its savor. In the New Testament Gospel of Mark (chapter 9, verse 50), He states, “Salt is good for seasoning. But if it loses its flavor, how do you make it salty again? (Therefore) you MUST have the qualities of salt among yourselves…”
What is Jesus doing here if He is not encouraging us to stay fresh in our spiritual lives?! We who carry the “Bread of Life” to the world must be sure that we ourselves remain fresh! “In what ways?”, you might ask.
Well, one obvious way is in our approach to the world. As believers, we are called to try to intersect effectively with non-believers in such a way as to that give us the opportunity to effectively share the gospel with hem. If our approaches, methodologies, and /or strategies are outdated, how can we hope to be successful in this endeavor?
As one pundit put it several years ago, we must be careful not to package the Good News of Jesus Christ in an 8-track format when we live in a CD world! (And even that illustration is now quite dated, given that we live in an MP3 world!)
But fresh methodologies are not all that matter here! As believers, we must also be sure to remain fresh in our own personal spiritual lives! Few things are as pitiful as a believer who has grown old, crusty, and stale! One thing that is even more pathetic, however, is a believer who has essentially grown moldy and therefore toxic!
If you are a believer, I encourage you to always be on the move! Keep moving to the front of the shelf! For surely this is a large part of why you were put here to begin with! As long as you are moving forward, you are available to be used of the Lord to impact others with the life-giving nurture they so desperately need. But when you just sit still and never progress, you become a detriment to the kingdom and its cause.
And as Jesus Himself says (in the New Testament Gospel of Matthew, chapter 5, verse 13), that which has lost its effectiveness is no longer good for anything except to be “thrown out and trampled underfoot as worthless”.
Physical bread is not the only thing that needs to be regularly freshened. Spiritual bread does as well.
So, then, just how stale are you?!
STORY SOURCE:
https://www.foxbusiness.com/lifestyle/bread-bag-color-code-twist-tie.
BREAD SCRIPTURES:
https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/topics/Bread;
https://www.biblestudytools.com/topical-verses/bible-verses-about-bread/.
SALT SCRIPTURES:
https://www.biblestudytools.com/topical-verses/bible-verses-about-salt/;
https://biblehub.com/matthew/5-13.htm.
In other words, it all has to do with just how fresh the bread is. Whether they be twist ties or plastic tags on loaves of bread, they are put there to indicate on which day of the week the enwrapped loaf was produced.
The article goes on to cite the Reader’s Digest website in asserting that there is, in fact, an entire color code for bread production, with each color representing a different day of the week on which a particular loaf of bread came out of the oven, with blue tags indicating the bread was baked on Monday; green tags indicating Tuesday; red tags indicating Thursday; white tags indicating Friday; and yellow tags indicating Saturday.
It also seems that most commercial bakeries are closed on Sunday and Wednesday, which explains why those days of the week do not have specific colors assigned to them. Thus, each color reportedly represents a different day that the bread was baked.
Moreover, the reason bakeries color-code their twist ties and tags is to help employees (their own as well as store owners) to quickly identify stale loaves and replace them with fresh ones. This is also the reason that it is unlikely most of us ever see more than two colors on any given store shelf.
While this system is by no means universal, given that some local bakeries have their own systems, it is still “widely used at commercial bread bakeries across the country”.
As I reflected on this tidbit of information, I was reminded that the Bible often employs metaphors regarding bread. Chief among these is when Jesus told us that He was the bread of life which came down out of Heaven. It follows that we who are believers are purveyors of that very Bread. And while the Bread of Life does not diminish or grow old, the methods to share Him and His message can and often do.
Perhaps this is precisely why Jesus also used metaphors about the importance of freshness. A classic example is that of salt losing its savor. In the New Testament Gospel of Mark (chapter 9, verse 50), He states, “Salt is good for seasoning. But if it loses its flavor, how do you make it salty again? (Therefore) you MUST have the qualities of salt among yourselves…”
What is Jesus doing here if He is not encouraging us to stay fresh in our spiritual lives?! We who carry the “Bread of Life” to the world must be sure that we ourselves remain fresh! “In what ways?”, you might ask.
Well, one obvious way is in our approach to the world. As believers, we are called to try to intersect effectively with non-believers in such a way as to that give us the opportunity to effectively share the gospel with hem. If our approaches, methodologies, and /or strategies are outdated, how can we hope to be successful in this endeavor?
As one pundit put it several years ago, we must be careful not to package the Good News of Jesus Christ in an 8-track format when we live in a CD world! (And even that illustration is now quite dated, given that we live in an MP3 world!)
But fresh methodologies are not all that matter here! As believers, we must also be sure to remain fresh in our own personal spiritual lives! Few things are as pitiful as a believer who has grown old, crusty, and stale! One thing that is even more pathetic, however, is a believer who has essentially grown moldy and therefore toxic!
If you are a believer, I encourage you to always be on the move! Keep moving to the front of the shelf! For surely this is a large part of why you were put here to begin with! As long as you are moving forward, you are available to be used of the Lord to impact others with the life-giving nurture they so desperately need. But when you just sit still and never progress, you become a detriment to the kingdom and its cause.
And as Jesus Himself says (in the New Testament Gospel of Matthew, chapter 5, verse 13), that which has lost its effectiveness is no longer good for anything except to be “thrown out and trampled underfoot as worthless”.
Physical bread is not the only thing that needs to be regularly freshened. Spiritual bread does as well.
So, then, just how stale are you?!
STORY SOURCE:
https://www.foxbusiness.com/lifestyle/bread-bag-color-code-twist-tie.
BREAD SCRIPTURES:
https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/topics/Bread;
https://www.biblestudytools.com/topical-verses/bible-verses-about-bread/.
SALT SCRIPTURES:
https://www.biblestudytools.com/topical-verses/bible-verses-about-salt/;
https://biblehub.com/matthew/5-13.htm.