Light and Salt

Christ told his disciples and by proxy us that we were to be salt and light to the world. I want to share a few thoughts on this.

On being light:

Matthew 5:14-16 "You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven."

We recently went to Carlsbad Caverns and one of the tours we went on has a spot in the cavern where they turn off all the lights. You are left in utter darkness. You can't even see the hand in front of your face. Then they ask that those who have lights on their cellphones turn there cellphones back on. You might be amazed and how much that particular section of cavern was lit up with roughly 40 or so cellphones on. How many of you have ever used you cellphone as a flashlight? Even one single cellphone does a fairly good job at providing some light. The lights that Christ talked about were small oil lamps which gave off sufficient light for the room. He wasn't talking about light houses or halogen spot lights. One single small light like our cellphones today provide a lot of light in the darkness and many grouped together provide much more light in the darkness. Just so we Christians are called to let our small individual lights shine forth in the darkness of our personal areas of influence; we aren't called individually to be halogen spotlights or even incandescent light bulbs although the church corporately is. I think sometimes Satan has us convinced both individually and corporately that our light is not sufficient to illuminate the darkness around us but he is wrong. The next time you have a doubt about your influence, think about your cellphone light and how effective it is in the darkness.

On being salt:

Matthew 5:13 "You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men."

Col 4:6 Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone. "

We are commanded to be salt. So what does salt do? Well if preserves that which it comes in contact with. It provides flavor. It can hurt in an open wound. Salt, especially that from the Dead Sea area, can soothe, rejuvenate and heal. I think sometimes we concentrate on the preservation aspect to the detriment of the other functions of salt. We are to help preserve our culture. How do we do that? By being transformed and having the same mind that was in Christ. We love the things of God more, we love what God loves and we hate what God hates. We essentially see the world as Christ sees the world. How can we preserve our culture if we don't call unholy that which God calls unholy? Are those who claim to be Christians deceiving themselves into thinking they are Christians when they don't call things unholy? Are the in fact saved but led astray by Satan?

Salt also give flavor. Job 6:6 "Is tasteless food eaten without salt, or is there flavor in the white of an egg? " How does that apply to our Christian walk? Our walk should be such that those around us desire to be Christians too. We should by our walk, consistency, and love make Christianity taste good. Psalm 34:8 "Taste and see that the Lord is good".

Unfortunately we must also realize that to be effective salt we are going to rub our culture the wrong way as well. We are pouring a substance into our society with all it's open wounds and defects that are really going to irritate at first. Salt can also work to cleanse and heal. When I had my ingrown toenails removed the doctor had me soak my feet twice a day in warm water, vinegar and salt. I have to tell you at first it was rather unpleasant but as time went on it was more soothing and kept the area clean and without infection. It also started to promote healing as well. An old wives remedy for healing was to go swimming in the ocean (something I wouldn't recommend though because we are discovering that there are some pretty bad bugs that grow in salt water these days). Also in other times people soaked in mineral baths to rejuvenate themselves physically. Most of my bath salts are made from salt from the Dead Sea. How many of you have soaked your tired feet in some sort of salt water to make them feel better? Our faith may irritate at first but later will provide soothing, rejuvenation, and healing for those around us both unsaved and those who are saved but not living as they should. So when Satan causes you to fear that you will overly irritate those around you be forewarned that is true BUT through a faithful witness and beyond the irritation lies healing.

Are we ready to be complete salt and light?