Matthew 5:13-16 “You are the salt of the earth. But if salt loses its taste, with what can it be seasoned? It is no longer good for anything but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot. You are the light of the world. A city set on a mountain cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and then put it under a bushel basket; it is set on a lamp stand, where it gives light to all in the house. Just so, your light must shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly Father.” This episode talks about how important it is to live in a way that spreads God's love and light to others. Music:"Adding the Sun" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Salt & Light of the Earth
Matthew 5:13-16 “You are the salt of the earth. But if salt loses its taste, with what can it be seasoned? It is no longer good for anything but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot. You are the light of the world. A city set on a mountain cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and then put it under a bushel basket; it is set on a lamp stand, where it gives light to all in the house. Just so, your light must shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly Father.”
When we look at what this verse means, we need to look at the purpose of salt. Today we use salt for everything. We use it to flavor our food, as a preservative, it is also used in the manufacturing of soap. We use salt to melt the ice in the winder and it is used for making chemicals like baking soda. Back in the day salt was mainly used as an instrument to reduce the corruption of meat and other food so they would last longer. I believe this is the way in which Jesus is comparing us to salt. Just as salt was used to slow the corruption of the meat, we can slow the corruption of society. However, we can only do this if we are living by God’s laws and spreading His word to others. If we want to help slow the corruption of this world we need to be aware of our behavior and how we are living. Are we living in a way that others will want to replicate? Are we spreading the word of God through our actions?
The verse also says that we are the light of the world. A city set on a mountain cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and then put it under a bushel basket; it is set on a lamp stand, where it gives light to all in the house. There is no need to hide our light. I think we all hide our light at times. We don’t mean to, we just assess our situation and decide whether we think the person we are talking to would be open to hearing what we have to say or not. If we judge that they wouldn’t then we don’t say it. I know I have done this before. I wish I could say that I openly and freely talked about God all the time. However, there are times when I hold back, times when I want to say something and I don’t. When we do this, we are hiding our light under a bushel.
This is not what God is calling us to do. Jesus is telling us in this verse that our light must shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly Father. We need to shine the light of Christ before all those we meet. Not just those that we think want to hear about God, but to all those we meet. However, God isn’t saying that we need to hit people over the head with the word of God. He isn’t saying that we need to make them sit down and listen to every word we have to say about the Lord. The verse says that they may see our good deeds and glorify our heavenly Father. If you feel like someone might not be open to hearing about the Lord then you can show them the Gospel with your actions. You can go out of your way to be nice to them. You can show them love or forgiveness even when they don’t deserve it. You can be open when you meet them and not judge them, just accept them for who they are. This will shine the light of Christ on them without having to say anything.
When I read the part of the verse that said, “That they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly Father,” I thought that sounded harder than I thought. Doing good deeds can be difficult at times. I am sure we all struggle from time to time with doing the right thing. However, the part that really got me was when it said glorify your heavenly Father. I wondered if I do this when I am around others. I definitely do it when I prayed for something and I got what I prayed for. However, do I always give the glory to God? I am thinking about times when I am with those that I know don’t believe in God. Do I still say “Praise God?” Do I still give God the glory, or do I say it was a coincidence, do I say it was luck or do I not say anything? I know what I would like to do. I would like to always give God the glory, even in the presence of those that don’t believe. However, I am not sure that I do. After reading this verse I will now pay more attention to this. I will be more intentional about letting my light shine and giving God the glory.
I have prayed for radical boldness over the years and God has increased my boldness. I wouldn’t have thought even just a few years ago that I would be doing a podcast that is spreading God’s Word. I wouldn’t have thought that I could get up in front of my prayer group and give a talk about God. I can now pray over strangers that I don’t really know. I still struggle with this one, but God is not done with me. He is still working on me, just as He is still working on you. If you are having trouble letting your light shine, just ask God for help. Ask Him to give you the boldness you need to talk about God in all situations. He is longing for us to ask Him for help. He is longing for us to help Him spread His light and His love. I am getting better at giving God the Glory and that is all thanks to Him and His blessings on me.
Be the salt of the earth. Live in a way that slows the decay of morality in society today. Live in a way that others want to imitate. Preserve God’s ways and others will follow. Also be the Light of the world. Let your light shine so brightly that it can be seen by all you meet. Let your words and actions spread the light and love of God. Live in a way that inspires people to want what you have. Then, give God all the Glory!
Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today. Lord, help us to be the salt of the earth. Help us to live in a way that slows the decay of our world. Help us to be the light of the world. Help us to live in a way that lets your light shine through us on all those we meet. Lord, you are so amazing and we are so grateful for all you do. We love you and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’ holy name, Amen.
Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. I look forward to spending time with you again on Monday. Have a blessed weekend!