Salt and Light
In just a couple of hours, we will be getting together with the church. A friend of ours is scheduled to teach on Matthew 5:13-16 as we continue to study through the Sermon on the Mount:
You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet. You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
In this passage, Jesus cuts through all the religious talk and the feel-good-do-nothing rhetoric that we tend to wrap ourselves in. In this passage, Jesus gets to the heart of the matter: Do you say that you are God’s children – citizens of his kingdom? If so, then you will be affecting the world around you in such a way that people notice. Not only will they notice, but they will also recognize that the things you do are actually works of God. They will not praise you, but instead they will praise God.
I’ve done many works where God’s people (especially those that I know) praise me. I’m not sure how many things I’ve done where others – people of the world, and people that I don’t know – see those works and praise God for them.