Thursday, March 6th, 2008
CC #2 – Salt and Light
Contagious – as children living as the salt and light of this world.
You are the salt of the earth, but if the salt has lost its flavor, with what will it be salted? It is then good for nothing, but to be cast out and trodden under the feet of men.
You are the light of the world. A city located on a hill can’t be hidden. Neither do you light a lamp, and put it under a measuring basket, but on a stand; and it shines to all who are in the house. Even so, let your light shine before men; that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.
Matthew 5:13-16
I’ve always loved this metaphor, and at the same time – I’ve always neglected certain parts of its message. I’ve never really fully taken the time to understand what Jesus was trying to say during his time on the Mount.
I’ve always been mesmerized by the message of being the light of the world, but always have seemed to have put aside what it means to be the salt. Back when Youth on a Hill formed to shine it’s light in the GTA area, I was drawn in by this concept of being the light for the world, a light for Toronto. And somehow always chased after the latter, forgetting what it meant to be the former.
And as I was reading and learning things these past couple of months – I realized that we need to be both of these things. If it was just about being the light, Jesus would’ve said so explicitly.
The Salt
Many of us go about living out our faith. Among those who believe, we find that certain people have frequent seekers ask about our faith. And they are given these awesome opportunities to minister to friends, co-workers or even total strangers. Have you ever wonder why they get asked? And why it doesn’t happen to me?
I know I have.
And one of the reasons why they are approached is because they are being the salt Jesus preached about.
Salt generates thirst, which is a biological miracle down to the very hormones we secrete, for water. And coincidently Jesus is the living water. (Jn 4:7-13) And as the salt of this world, we should strive to be able to invoke that thirst for others to want to know more about Him. To be salty. So salty that others around us will inherently gain a thirst to know what is so special about this faith we believe in. About our God. Whether it is through our complexion, authenticity, compassion or actions – we should aim to have others around us question our faith.
The saltier something is, the thirstier we get. And likewise, we should increase the presence of God in our lives. To have our lives centered around Him and become godly sons and daughters of God. To be so ‘salty’ that those who come in contact with us will be impacted and want to know more about our faith.
In Matthew 15:3, Jesus said that salt without savor is worthless. It has lost its power. It cannot generate any thirst. And no matter how hard we try to get others to know about our faith – it will only be trodden under the feet of men. So let us remain in Him and he will remian in us. (John 15:4-5) Pray that we can become more potent, to want others thirst for God.
But why should we make someone thirsty in the first place? Being thirsty is a bit undesirable anyways.
Why would someone want to ingest salt in the first place? Why do we eat things with salt in the first place?
The anwer is because it provides flavor. It makes plain tasting food seemingly transition into awesome dishes. I dont really see how something so small and insignificant, can totally change how something tastes. But it does. And like the metaphor suggests – we as the salt can provide flavor into people’s lives. The flavor is not really us, persay, but the relationship that springs forth from knowing God. The joy of knowing Christ is the flavor.
So as the salt we must also go and be that flavor.
But salt is useless on its own, it has no effect on its own. It has to get close to whatever it needs in order to generate an effect. Salt, has no affect on its own. If we’re talking about adding flavor to food – salt has to first mix with the meat before it can have an effect. And similarly we are also useless if we just keep to ourselves. We need to get close to those who who have yet to experience Christ. It’s no use if we just stick with other fellow believers; stay within our comfort zones. Because if we do we’ll just be salt – stored in a cupboard. He did not tell us to be salt amongst the believers, insetad Jesus said to be the salt of the earth. To be the salt for his people.
We are to be in the world, so that the world may benefit by our difference.
(by difference, I mean that we are not the same as the world. And it should stay that way, for if we lose our saltiness when we minister to our friends and non-believers, then our faith is useless.)
Preserve! And with everything in mind, we must also preserve. Preserve both this rotting world from decaying, and also our faith. For salt is a preservative by nature.
“And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”
- Romans 12:2
A lot of us live these awesome Christian lives and there really isn’t anything wrong about it. But take up the challenge to be the salt that Jesus asked us to be. So many of us are such potent and ‘salty’ Christians. And I’m really happy to see that, but the next step is to take up the challenge – to go out and mix salt into this world.
To be potent and close, so that a thirst and flavor may affect to those around us.
Only after we become that salt, can we proceed to be the light. For if they are not willing to open their ears and hear, our light, the gospel, will never reach their hearts.
The Light
(to be lightly covered, no pun intended)
The light of salvation. The light of eternal life.
“For you were once darkness but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light.”
-Ephesians 5:8,9
And just like how salt is known for its saltiness. Light is known for its shining. and this shining – is not optional.
As the light of this world, we are responsible for communicating that message to the world. To illuminate the truth and cut through this dark world. I really dont know what else to say, other than the fact that the stronger we live our Christian lives – the brighter we’ll shine. (There is so much to say about being the Light, perhaps in another post)
But also be reminded that our fuel for our light should come from the Holy Spirit. We must be burning on the oil of the Holy Spirit or else we may suffer from attacks from the devil, with things like burnout, anxiety attacks and depression.
And as the salt and light of this world. We will be able to minister to those around us; to our friends, co-workers, schools and neighbors.
As Christians, only when we live as the salt and light of this earth will we start to carry that hope that makes our faith so contagious. Contagoius to the point where others will start to catch it just from being around us.
Tweet
on Monday, May 5th, 2008 at 3:26 pm:
I read this in the CCF insight magazine. It really spoke to me. (It gave me tingles all over!)