Salt and Light

In our worship time, we are currently examining what Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount.  Early into the sermon, Jesus says, “You are the salt of the earth… You are the light of the world.”  Did you notice, he didn’t say, “you could be”, or “you someday will be”, he said “you are”.  What a compliment, what a challenge!

In essence he is saying, “You my disciples live in a very corrupt world.  It is a sick world out there.  It is a messed up world all around you.  And you my disciples are to be the salt of the earth; you are to be the moral preservative just as salt preserves fish and just as salt preserves meat.  So you my disciples are to be the moral preservative of society.  You are to help society from decaying morally.”

“But not only are you to help society from decaying, you are to be the light of the world.  You are to be the light of God and show people how to walk in the ways of God.  You are to be a light to people’s paths and show people the difference between right and wrong.  You are to show people how to live in this world of ours.  You are to be the salt of the earth; you are to be the light of the world.”

“But Dave, you don’t know the people I have to work with”, or “I’m the only Christian in my family.  I can’t be that kind of influence!”  You are right.  I don’t know the people you work with or the family with which you live.  But I know it doesn’t take much salt to season the whole pot of beans.  I doesn’t take much light to make me feel comfortable in some dark, desolate place.  I also know that salt is useless if it never gets out of the shaker and the light won’t come on unless I turn on the switch.

There are some things we all need to do to impact the world around us.  Sometimes it doesn’t come easily.  Sometimes it requires hard work.  You may not even know who is watching to see how you react to a given situation.  You don’t have to be sensational.  You don’t have to be spectacular.  We just have to be faithful and affect our little corner of the world!

So how are you doing at your job of preserving the decay of society around you?  How are you doing at your job of showing how people ought to live?  How are you doing at being salt and light?  The truth is we’re never going to be perfect (here on earth) but we need to continually strive to walk closer with God each and every day.  Only then will we really have that kind of impact on the people around us as we are salt and light.