salt and light

Teaching about Salt and Light

13 "You are the salt of the earth. But what good is salt if it has lost its flavor? Can you make it salty again? It will be thrown out and trampled underfoot as worthless.
14 "You are the light of the world—like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden.15 No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house.16 In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.

matthew 5

we're called to be the salt of the earth. to give the world its flavor. the purpose of salt is to give flavor and ultimately, be salty. our purpose as christians is to inject the world with God's love. if we don't do that, we're not fulfilling what we were meant for! we become useless! no good to anybody! what's the point of keeping salt if it doesn't do any of the things that salt is supposed to do? what's the point of calling someone a christian if he or she doesn't even love or act like one?

now, this second part really got to me. i like this line, "'you are the light of the world--like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden.'" that cannot be hidden. think about that. the moment we become christians, the world has its eyes on us. i've talked about this before, i think. the world's waiting for us to mess up and prove to them that we're all just hypocrites. we're supposed to be God's shining light to the world. so, of course, people will see everything that we do. our actions are not hidden. they are up on a hilltop for everyone to see. all our actions are put to scrutiny. are we going to glorify God? or make Him look like a joke? verse 16, let our good deeds shine. i always thought that we shouldn't brag about our good deeds, but here it is, straight up from Jesus, "let your good deeds shine out for all to see," why? "...so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father." i guess what i'm trying to get across here is that don't just hide your good deeds, if we're doing it for God to glorify His name, let it shine for the world to see. do it in love and in humility, never, ever glorifying yourself.

where in your life do you see that you're not fulfilling your purpose? where you're not living out a life of worship like you should be? make a change! be the salt! don't become useless!

remember that unbelievers look at all your actions looking to see what God's really about. show them what He's about. remember His love and His salvation and live your life out in response to that and people will really see the Gospel through how you live! and when you do something good, let it shine. this is hard, but completely take yourself out of the picture and let God get all the glory. never take any credit. people can judge you, i guess. this we know for sure. some people will say, "what a show off. fake modesty at its finest!" but, God sees your heart. if your heart is in the right place, God will see and i think people who are really, really looking will see that too. maybe a life will be changed. maybe someone will come up to you and ask, "tell me about this Jesus."