Salt and Light
Salt and Light
Salt and Light are age old concepts, but do they have significance today? I think so.
Salt is a cleansing, healing, and preservation agent for our bodies. It brings out the flavors in foods. Our bodies need a certain amount of salt in our diet. The essential minerals in salt act as important electrolytes in the body. They help with fluid balance, nerve transmission and muscle function.
Coming from Minnesota, salt for icy roads and driveways is essential part of winter preparation for the safety of those driving or walking on sidewalks. In our emergency kit in the trunk, there was always a bag of salt in case we were stuck.
Let’s break this down. Remembering that the goal is to be a reflection of our Heavenly Father to those in the world around us. I’m reminded that His Word, the Bible, is a cleansing agent for our heart, mind and soul. All of Psalm 51 is about asking the Lord to cleanse my heart. Psalm 51:10 specifically asks, “Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.”
It really starts here. How we are a reflection is determined by our actions not just our words. Both start with the disposition of our hearts.
If we are filled with fear, bitterness, resentment, jealously, envy, greed, or pride we are a distorted and muddy reflection of God. We have no capacity to be a light of love, hope, and healing in a troubled world.
There is a culprit to address. Pride being as CS Lewis puts it: “Pride is the mother hen under which all other sins are hatched,’ says C. S. Lewis.” another quote is: “Pride is spiritual cancer: it eats up the very possibility of love, or contentment, or even common sense.” — C. S. Lewis
The heart issue is not just in our sins that diminish our ability to be nourishing salt and light. Challenges we face and how we respond to them can equally impact our effect on those around us.
Today in the world struggling with the COVID challenges, businesses closing and many people losing jobs, financial stress, and many schools considering distance learning, folks are weary and fearful. Jesus knew about peoples struggles in His day and today.
Jesus tells us to:
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” — Matthew 11:28 NIV
Isaiah says:
“He gives power to the weak, and to those who have no might He increases strength…Those who wait on the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.” — Isaiah 40:29,31
Paul admonishes the Philippians and us to:
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” — Philippians 4:6-7
Jesus knows our struggle, but when we look to Him and cry out in fear or frustration, needing peace in our hearts He tells us to look to Him. He tells us:
“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” — John 14:27
That may seem far-fetched to some, but I know first-hand when I have leaned on Him, looked to Him in times of trouble He has always, not sometimes but always provided a peace that seemed unimaginable. I am grateful.
So many of us have lost loved ones this year and are broken hearted. We ask God to heal and give us strength. I have found that when we remember and talk about those memories and allow ourselves to cry that healing can begin. When we bring that pain and sorrow to God, He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds as King David tells us in Psalm 147:3. He really does. It is a process not an instant fix. But our response to that pain determines our ability to be salt and light in the world.
For if we are still here breathing God has a plan for our lives. “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
To be “Salt and Light” in the world it takes work. Work that starts with our relationship with God. It takes trusting that God is who He says He is and knowing that He is trustworthy. It doesn’t take tragedy for Psalm 23 to be applied. Psalm 23 is how we are able to be “Salt and Light” in our everyday world. Even more so in a world in turmoil.
For me Psalm 23 verses 1 to 4 sum it all up:
“The LORD is my shepherd, I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake. Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.”