Matthew 5:13-16 Salt and Light

Matthew 5:13-16 “You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet.
14 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

The power of the beatitudes have now shaped us to the point of no return. Jesus is lord and savior and in full control. Our reflection upon the beatitudes and the simple yet extraordinary happiness they provide as we are poor in spirit changes us eternally. They also change us in our present condition. Jesus says that we are salt and light. We are to very significant and important elements in the ancient world. Jesus calls us a preservative and a tool for illumination.

Salt has lots of uses to us: taste and medicinal but when Jesus called us salt he communicated specifically preservative. Why preservative? I thinking being flavor of the world might be more interesting but preservative is clearly what the world needs. The world needs something to keep the evil out when Christians are present. Jesus desire for his people is to be a neutralizing agent to keep sin from growing. Salt when acting as a preservative makes bacteria unable to grow and survive. Christian should by their very lives create a more holy living space. People should act differently when Christians are present by their lives not by what they tell others to do.

Light illuminates it exposes darkness. Jesus says that we are light, we expose the world for what it is. When Christians live the way the beatitudes call them to they will always expose the world and its hidden agenda. Listen to Jesus words in John 3:19 And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. 20 For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. 21 But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.” So disciples must function in society as an alternative and challenging community. It is by their visible goodness that they will bring glory to the God who has made them so.

So the question I asked my self; "what impurities have I let into my life to remove my salty taste? where am I allowing "my life" to cover up the light that should point to the father?"

We are the salt and Light Jesus made no mistake in choosing those to illustrations to show us who we are.