I'm A God Girl

Salt and Light (Sermon On the Mount)

Salt and Light
  13 "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.

Matthew 5:13-16 ESV

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AAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!O_O

So sorry. I just had to shout. I just had to. Not my fault. Blame the verses. The verses made me shout. But is it even right to blame a verse from the Bible? Could that even be justified?... Isn't it wrong in every sense? Ahh.... This is mind boggling. Let's move on now.

The reason I shouted is because I am in love with these verses. I mean who couldn't be? (If you aren't, please don't let me know. That would devastate me and I don't think you would want that.) I just feel exuberant every time I read them.

Personally, this verse means so much to me because I was personally promised this by God, together with Jeremiah 29:11. I am holding on to it for my future.

Now, let us go through the verses bits by bits and discuss them bits by bits.

Did you notice how verses 13 and 14 started with "You are"? It did not say "You will be" "You can be" or "You should be". It started with "You are." It is not a possibility or a command. It is a promise. It is given, final, a done deal and sealed by blood bond and everything. And most of all, it's God's promise, so you definitely can't escape this even if you tried.

Would you even want to escape this promise? If yes, why?

Let us talk about the salt.

In ancient times salt was seen as a necessity of life. Because of its seasoning and preservative qualities was one of the most highly prized minerals. In many societies, it was so highly valued that it was used for money.

I was told before (I was not able to research and confirm it) that some time ago, the Sahara Desert had a body of water in the middle of it. Once all the water dried up, lots and lots and lots of salt was left. This salt was so pure and unprocessed that merchants made bars of salt out of it. These bars of salt were the same worth as bars of gold of the same weight. Now that, is pricey. Would you buy salt that expensive?

Could you imagine eating anything without salt? I can't. If there was no salt, jerky wouldn't exist; pizza might be bland; burger patties wouldn't taste right; fries would be without taste. Could you imagine such a life? It's a horror!

Now why would Jesus compare us—his disciples—to salt? Here are a few reasons:
*Salt is used to enhance flavor. We, too, can enhance the flavor of God's Word. We can share it in a way that would be pleasing and more fun to unbelievers that they would accept the Word, even welcome it with open arms. We can make the world a more flavorful place if we ourselves spread the flavor that is in us.
*Pure salt cannot lose its flavor, but those with mixed with impurities can lose its flavor enhancing abilities. In the same way, we need to make sure that we remain pure, being very careful that we will not commit to the ways of this world that is against the word of God, or can hinder our relationship with God. If we remain pure, the we are at the best state to share the Good News to the world. If we, however, succumb to and mix with the "impurities" of this world, then we ourselves are no longer pure. Over time, if this continues, we will be flavorless salt, which is salt with no use.
*Jesus said that stale salt has no use and is to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet. I sure do not want to belong to this group. I do not want to be a disciple that has grown stale and is worth nothing but to be trampled on.