Tasteless Salt
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. 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 a 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. -Matthew 5:13-15 NIV
Salt makes a big difference in the taste of our food. If you picked up a salt shaker, sprinkled your baked potato liberally, took a bite and tasted no salty flavor, you would probably do one of two things… either you would salt the potato again, or you’d sprinkle a little on your hand to taste the salt itself. If it didn't taste like salt, you would throw it out. It would be worthless to you, right? Do you turn on a light, then cover it with a bag? No, you turn on a light so that everyone in the room can see.
So it is with you and me. Jesus says that we are "the salt of the earth" and the "light of the world". We are to make a difference in the "flavor" of our world. If we make no difference, we are like salt that has lost its flavor - worthless. If we hide the light of Jesus in our lives, we leave those around us in darkness.
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Salt and light. Things that make a difference. Things that have flavor, substance, effect. Salt and light. People that make a difference. People that are different. People that have flavor, substance, and have an effect on the world around them... people whose very lives glorify God. This is what Jesus is saying here... that we must be different... that we must be involved in the world around us, but stand out from that world in a way that makes people want to know what we have that they don’t, and then make them want the same thing.
One of the most damaging things we can do to the cause of God is to sit back and do nothing when evil is going on around us. That is almost as bad as committing the evil ourselves. What did Jesus do when He saw how men had made an evil place of the Temple in Jerusalem? Did He shake His head and cluck His tongue, then go on about His own business? Did He go away and pray for God to intervene supernaturally and stop the moneychangers? Did He talk to His friends about how terrible it all was, but do nothing about it? No. He took action. He cleared the Temple, turned over tables, told the people that what they were doing was evil.
In the same way, we - as His people - must take a stand for what is right and fight what is wrong in our world. We must speak out. We must get involved. But one caution - when we do make that commitment to make a stand for God’s way, we can not try to fight that fight with the world’s methods. If we truly love Him, we must let our light shine for the world to see, and not let that light be overshadowed by actions, words and methods that merely mimic what the world would do. Instead, we must seek God’s way of righting wrongs, God’s way of fighting evil - because His way is the only way that will truly win those battles.
Do you want to be salt and light to those around you? Then make a commitment to take a stand against the evil being done in our world, and make just as strong a commitment to taking that stand God’s way.
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