Salt and Light (Matthew 5)

“You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavour, how shall it be seasoned?

 It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men.
“You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden.

Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand,

And it gives light to all who are in the house.

Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.

Our Lord does not command us to be the salt of the earth; instead our Lord tells us we are the salt of the earth.

Our Lord does not command us to be the light of the world; instead our Lord tells us we are the light of the world.

This immediately changes how we view our selves as followers of our King. When we consider all the relationships and spheres of influence we have, we can’t help but think how am I flavouring them and bringing light.

Truly though how do I imperfect, often failing, does not understand it all follower, do so?

Verses 3 – 10, our Lord dedicates to teaching us the attitudes that bring flavour and light because we are His followers. Following our Lord transforms who we are and become for in loving and following Him we become like Him. In Hebrews we learnt that we are companions with our Lord, co-partakers in His Kingdom. Our Lord is not telling us something He is not prepared to assist us with but He reveals to us who we are.

We call them the beatitudes, as we learn today we are already are, all we need to do is ask the Spirit to empower us to walk in who we are. Are we going to fail, sure we will, but remember we learnt that the Spirit is our helper the one who walks along us, to empower us for the glory of our Father.

No matter how small or insignificant you think your flavour and light is, remember it always points to the Father and brings Him glory. There is nothing more we can want for, that is what our Lord did, point to and glorify the Father.

Verses 21 – 43, our Lord touches on some of the challenges we face, He is quick to caution us to:

Be aware of the condition of our hearts; don’t let anger and hatred fester

Be honest and truthful

Do not seek revenge but seek to be kind beyond reason
Share your flavour and light with even those who are considered to be your enemies

Without the Spirit counsel, none of this is possible.