Salt and Light

 You are the salt of the earth... (Matthew 5: 13a)

You are the light of the world... (Matthew 5: 14a)

I heard a meditation on these two core principles of Christianity which filled me with hope, so I wanted to share my own reflections based on what I heard, hoping they will be a blessing to you as well.

The meditation reminded us that in this passages, which are part of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus is not saying anything like, 'you will be the salt of the earth and the light of the world' or 'you could be...' or 'you might be...'  He is not saying, 'put your mind to it and you may be...'  He is saying:  "you ARE..." For those of us who are like me and do not have much faith in one's own abilities or adequacy, it is hard to believe that we "ARE" the salt of the earth and the light of the world.  People like me tend to believe the only thing we "are" is failure, disappointment, sinner, loser, lost, inadequate and overall, just profoundly flawed and incapable of "being" anything more than a mere worthless, wretched waste of good space.  It's harsh, I know...but...I can't deny I often think of myself just as described. The reflection I heard today, however, reminded me that I have actually very little to do with being the salt and the light.

The thing is...the ultimate truth is... it is not about me.  Boy, have any other set of 5 words been such a deep revelation to me, Praise the Lord that the Holy Spirit inspired Pastor Rick Warren to utter them so clearly all those many years ago in his book The Purpose Driven Life. 

It's not about me...it is not about my good deeds or my lack of thereof.  It is not about my lack of will-power or my inabilities, failures or inadequacies. It is all about the power of the Holy Spirit living in me.  It is all about that blessed Third Person of the Holy Trinity who chose to reside in me and act through me, that I can possibly be the salt of the earth and the light of the world.  It is the Holy Spirit the One who is the Salt and the Light...and since He lives in my heart, in my soul...then, I'm able to be Salt and Light as well.  It is the deeds of the Holy Spirit enacted through Christians that are the Salt and the Light; therefore, we are.  

That is why Jesus says "You ARE..." because you HAVE the Holy Spirit and He is the Salt and the Light; therefore, you ARE!

That's why we are called to be like Jesus...we are to be "imitators of Christ" like Paul says in 1 Corinthians 11: 1.  We are conformed to the image of the Son; (Romans 8: 29) therefore, Christ presence must show through us.  It's inevitable.  We can't help it.  For those whom he foreknew he also predestined...(Romans 8: 29a) and, even in our sin and in our deeply flawed day-to-day existence, the miracle, the greatest gift is that Christ lives in us...and nothing can change that...not even us.

We strive to be like Jesus.  We seek Him first.  We try to walk with Him.  But, even as we fail ... He is there, shaping us, finding us, picking us up, never letting go.  He died, to save us!  Why would He abandon us now?  He won't.

He is the saltiness in the salt and the flame in the light.  Regardless of how perfect we might think our deeds are and how magnificently we belief we are doing our job...without Christ...it all amounts to nothing.  That is the real failure: forgetting that it is all about Him.