Matthew 5:13-16 MSG 13 “Let me tell you why you are here. You’re here to be salt-seasoning that brings out the God-flavors of this earth. If you lose your saltiness, how will people taste godliness? You’ve lost your usefulness and will end up in the garbage.
14-16 “Here’s another way to put it: You’re here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world. God is not a secret to be kept. We’re going public with this, as public as a city on a hill. If I make you light-bearers, you don’t think I’m going to hide you under a bucket, do you? I’m putting you on a light stand. Now that I’ve put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand—shine! Keep open house; be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you’ll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in heaven.
Observation
Both salt and light are necessary for us to thrive. Salt, which is sodium chloride, plays a crucial role in maintaining our health. Either sodium (a metal) or chloride (a gas) are poisonous to us on their own, but combined are necessary for life. Salt is essential for nerve and muscle function, maintaining healthy blood pressure and keeping us hydrated properly. Just a little bit can also make food taste better by bringing out the other flavors in the dish. Salt would be worthless and useless if it lost its ability to do all of these things.
Sunlight plays a vital role in promoting clear thinking, good blood pressure, strong immune system, healthy metabolism and restful sleep. Light, whether sunlight or artificial, allows us to see what is around us, to discern the beautiful colors of nature which add so much beauty to our lives. As the light dims, the colors fade, becoming muddy and less vibrant. Even a small light shining in the darkness can restore vision, give us the direction out of dark circumstances so He can rescue us from previously unseen dangers around us.
We are taught here that we are meant to be God’s salt and light among those living in the dull, drab and dark world around us. I love the “God-flavors” and “God-colors” picture because they remind us that they are already there and just need to be brought out by the Holy Spirit working in and through us. Jesus wants us to allow Him to be the seasoning and shine of God’s goodness, love, truth, mercy and grace in and through everything we are and do NOW.
Impact on Me
Matthew’s chapters 5-7 are one of my frequent places to visit. These chapters remind me that my life is not about what I get out of it, but, rather how I am to choose to live so that others might recognize the Jesus that lives in and shines through me. These chapters teach me how to make the choices, like clay in the potter’s hand, to be continually squashed and re-squashed, molded and eventually shaped to be more like Jesus. These verses are all about my submitting to His will, giving Him free reign in my spirit, soul and body, and allowing God to get His best out of living in and through me. I am always arrested by these verses on salt and light. So, how should my life change because of these verses?
The picture He has given me, what He is asking me to be, is a simple, unadorned lantern, an instrument to carry His light everywhere I go, so that all I meet will have Jesus’ light shine upon them so that they may find the way out of their personal darkness. For when one is lost in the darkness, what carries the light really doesn’t matter; the light itself is what guides them to safety. My good deeds serve only a human purpose without Jesus’ light shining through.
He is asking me to be a dash-size spoon in the salt cellar so I will add just enough salt to bring out the flavor of God in every situation. If I am too salty, all they will taste or recognize is me rather than the flavors of God. For example, when I put myself in the place of fixer, whatever temporary fix may be evident, the Holy Spirit is delayed in working His deep and abiding fix – His eternal healing, redemption and peace.
These verses are a place where I meet Jesus face-to-face every time I come, asking Him to judge my obedience, my prideful stealing of His glory and praise, my willingness to be a living sacrifice, my efforts to be a good and faithful servant. Here is where I ask the Holy Spirit to inspect my heart, my motives, my thoughts toward others, especially those who make it so hard to love them!
- How clean is the glass of my lantern? How large is my salt spoon?
- How brightly does Jesus shine through my life? How salty is my service to Him?
- Have I allowed myself to dim or obscure His pure light by mucking up the glass with my human pride, my selfish desires, by offenses I have not forgiven, by my circumstances, by the cultural muck of the world, the decoration of religion?
- Have I overwhelmed His flavors by adding too much of me?
These verses are where I ask for a good scrubbing – to my soul, my heart, my attitude, my perspective, my mercy and compassion for the unlovely. I want my glass to be sparkling clean and no hindrance to His light shining through to pierce the darkness for me and others. I want to be just the right amount of salt so that, when I am gone, all they remember is Jesus.
Prayer
Lord, more and more I recognize in Your Word that You are asking me to be concerned with my relationship with You first and others second. If I will heed Your Word and submit myself unconditionally, absolutely to You, You can make me into that good and faithful lantern or salt spoon for You in my service to others. I fail You by letting the light in me become darkness when I neglect these two relationships and focus on me – what I think I need, how badly I am being treated, what is wrong with others, what do I get out of it. So, Father, in the name of Jesus I pray, scrub my glass clean, wash me again in the blood of Your sacrifice and the water of Your Word so that Your light may shine brightly and clearly, piercing the darkness so that others may escape darkness by embracing the freedom of living in Your light. Make it so. Amen.
Pressing On In His Footsteps 