The Ways of Salt and Light, Love and Truth
Good Morning Friends,
Do you want to experience God face to face and not just the wake of His activity in history? If so, do not make the mistake of being content in just receiving power without distributing it. There is a difference between influencing the world for good and just witnessing the blessings as they occur. So not sell yourself short by believing in the lies of the world. There is more work to be done God’s way. We are to experience a relationship with the divine as we engage actively in culture to transform it. This is what Jesus intended. So do not be satisfied with only tangentially seeing the acts of God, for God desires us to know Him through The Ways of Salt and Light, Love and Truth.
Scripture: He made known His ways to Moses, His acts to the children of Israel.
Psalms 103:7 (NRSV)
‘You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything, but is thrown out and trampled underfoot. ‘You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hidden. No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.
Matthew 5:13-16 (NRSV)
“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes.”
Romans 1:16 (NRSV)
Message: No life ever lived on this planet has been so influential in the affairs of men like the life of Jesus Christ. Moses in his humanity gives us a hint of it but let’s face the reality that he did not get to the Promised Land. In hope of more today we explore the ways of Jesus so that we might receive from God blessings but more importantly so that we might give blessings in return. Here we discover the way God’s Kingdom is being established here on earth and make it our own as we join in the Way of Christ. The beauty is that Jesus understands us and knows that the Way must come from the inside out …not the outside in. Jesus understands that it is about influence, but more importantly the type of influence we are to exert. Jesus understood the difference between self-centered influence and an unselfish way that refuses to acquiesce to the status quo. Jesus makes a clear distinction between the two as clear as heaven and earth. The world, he says, is like rotting meat, but we are to be the world’s salt to preserve it. The world is like a dark night, but we are to be the world’s light for all to see. This is the fundamental difference between the Christian and the non-Christian. But let me be absolutely clear about this, being blessed by The Way is one thing and actually being salt and light is another. We are to live in this power for the Glory of God. That is why the Holy Spirit gives Christians the power to influence the world…Now there is more God wants us to know. As we explored yesterday we have the power of prayer. Prayer is an indispensable part of the Christian’s life and of the church’s. There is the power of truth in believing in Jesus as we focus the light of the good news but there is more of God’s Truth to be redeemed. All God’s truth is powerful. Know that we cannot do anything against the truth only for it. Friends, the truth is powerful when it’s argued but it creates a new power when we are examples of its love. Christians are marked people to be exhibits of the change God’s glory demands. Here God claims what is true whether it appears Biblical or not. Finally friends there is the power we have yet to fully attain but have hope for because Jesus prayed we would have it. This is the power of unity. It is the strength of commitment of even a minority to a common cause and vision. This is the Way of a small band of brothers. This is the Way of a family. This is the Way of Salt and Light, Love and Truth.
Pray we are joyous and optimistic. Pray
that our heads do not get in the way of our hearts. Pray we not dismiss prayer as a pious platitude. Pray we experience the light shining through us in the darkness, and truly believe that the darkness cannot and will not overcome it. Pray we express our concerns for others to God. Pray for Christian thinkers who will use their minds for Jesus Christ in order to influence public opinion for Kingdom purposes. Pray we expand our faith in love as we move from a parochial focus on prayer to one more global. Pray for the stability of a place called home…the intimacy of God and the true reality of the spiritual life as we connect to God and others. Pray this creates in us a response of the Spirit prompting us to go to all the world so that it might be called home as well. Pray we reaffirm our confidence in the power of God, in the power of prayer, of truth, of example, of group commitment in a living gospel. Pray for a new heaven and a new earth.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 