You Are Salt and Light






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 underfoot.
14“You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. 15Neither 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. 16In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.

Matthew 5:13-16

You are the salt. Jesus is making a claim right here. If you call yourself a believer and a follower of Jesus Christ you are the salt. This identity is not earned, but just by associating as a follower of Jesus we take on this identity. So what does that mean?

Salt today is often used to add flavour. Its so common every restaurant as well as maybe the table in your home has salt and pepper on the table or near by at all times. It is a staple. But salt has more uses then just adding flavour. Still to this day around the world one of the most common ways to preserve produce, keeping them fresh so that they won't spoil too quickly. Salt is a natural preservative. We don't use salt this way in the western world because we use refrigeration to do the same thing for less work. Back in the days of Jesus, salt was a valuable commodity. Jesus is saying that as followers we have the responsibility to preserve. But to preserve what?

Lets go to Genesis 1:26-30

26Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”
27So God created mankind in his own image,
in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.
28God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”
29Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. 30And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.” And it was so.  

When God created the earth and all that is in it and of it he gave the responsibility of taking care of it to mankind. God didn't just create you with no purpose but with the purpose of taking care of his creation. His perfect creation, which He called Good.

Now lets go to Genesis 3:17


17
To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’
“Cursed is the ground because of you;
through painful toil you will eat food from it
all the days of your life.

Genesis 3 is when sin comes into the World. This is when we learn that there are consequences to our sin for the first time. The serpent's consequence is that his offspring will be defeated by the women's offspring and eat the dust of the earth. Eve's consequence is that she will suffer in childbearing. And then we come to Adam's consequence. The ground is cursed. It is rotting. 

How do you keep something from rotting? You preserve it! And guess what? You are the salt! That same responsibility that Jesus gave mankind is now given to the ones who believe in Him!

Luke 14:34-35

34“Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? 35It is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile; it is thrown out.
“Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.”

Salt that isn't salty isn't even valuable to manure. If you are a believer are you salty? Jesus wants to use you for his purpose. But he won't use you if you have lost your saltiness. 

Taking care of the earth is hard work and it will be that way till the day Jesus returns because it is a reminder that our sins do have consequences. But how are we to take care of the earth? By spreading the works of Jesus Christ to the ends of the earth and by living by the fruit of the spirit. Love, joy, peace, patience, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control. (Galatians 5:22-23)

You are not just salt though. You are light also. 

14“You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. 15Neither 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. 16In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.

This is our identity. As followers we are the light. This is not earned but another responsibility. Gods Holy Spirit is in you. There is not a different Holy Spirits but the same Holy spirit that is in you that is in me and is inside every believer that calls Jesus Lord. 

Now the question is, are you covering up or hiding the Spirit? Don't you know that God has chosen you to be a light. He wants you to be a blessing to everyone around you, but how can you be a blessing if you hide or suppress God's presence. 

John 13:34-35

34“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

This is not suppose to be confusing. It is so simple. How can we be the salt? How can we be the light? The answer is by how we love!

James 2:14-19

14What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? 15Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. 16If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? 17In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.
18But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.”
Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds. 19You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.

When I am compensated for my work, whether it is payment of money or a favour, it gives me that added drive to work with integrity. You might be thinking then, "well what is my payment from God if I do his work?" I want to remind you that if you call yourself a believer, and you do not understand this you have forgotten the most important part! Jesus paid our debt for us! a price we could never pay. God said the consequence of sin is death and Jesus died so we did not have to, giving us the opportunity to have a relationship with God the way he intended our relationship with him to be! 

Therefore, salt resembles our works, and our light resembles our faith. They go hand in hand as a believer. So this is where I challenge you, first to question how salty are you? And second can others benefit from the light within you?

If you are hearing this and are not a believer but are curious of this God, want his Holy Spirit to bring purpose to your life, then I invite you to let Jesus into your life. He is waiting for you to let him in. 

Revelations 3:20

 20Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.

Thank you for reading and I hope you have a blessed day!








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