Salt and Light

Matthew 5: 13 - 16

You are the salt of the earth.....You are the light of the world.

Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.

The past few years I have been very aware of the degree of saltiness of foods. And most foods, especially from hawkers tends to be very, very salty. I have gone on a very low salt diet, in view of my kidney disorder. At the start, it was difficult to adjust to the 'new' taste of most foods - in other words the original flavor instead of a salty one. I have got used to a much lower salt intake but admittedly some foods do taste bland when salt is left out. Even a pinch of salt can enhance the flavor of foods.

Imagine a world where every Christian becomes 'salt'. A world where the beauty of human existence is enhanced because these people known as Christians, few as they may be, bring love, joy and peace wherever they are. It is their very nature to do so. It is who they are. Just as table salt or sodium chloride by its chemical properties enhances the flavor of foods, Christians by their very nature and presence, bring to human life glimpses of the divine. And they do this most often unobtrusively. They work in quiet ways just as table salt has no great place of honor at a banquet table. It's place is in the kitchen. It is a most humble cooking aid.

Jesus' teachings seem to always go right to the core of the matter. Not just moral imperatives, which can end up in legalistic religion. But being and becoming who we are is what our Lord is concerned with.

Being light is another simple yet profound metaphor for our lives as Christians. Jesus says that we are like a city on a hill. And that by our very nature, we bring the gift of light even in small ways, as in a household. Most times, I don't see myself as a city on a hill, a person out there at the front of things. But I am encouraged by the thought that I can be a little household lamp that gives light to those in my immediate sphere of influence. The end result is not honor for the lamp or the salt but for the One from whom these simple yet most essential gifts come.

Maybe this is a sign of midlife, when energies diminish and the need to 'prove myself' also diminishes. I have set aside most of my great plans to serve the Lord and am learning to depend more on his leading than on my (sometimes overambitious) initiatives. But it all the more necessary to be 'salt' and be 'light' in every way that brings praise and honor to Him.