Salt and Light. That’s what Jesus said we are… “You are the salt of the earth.” That is an incredible statement. And yet this statement and prophecy has turned out to be true. Christians, the followers of Jesus Christ, have in fact proved to be, more than anyone else, the preservatives of decency and morality in the world. Salt acts as a preservative. It stands with feet spread, hands on hips, arms akimbo, across the threshold of the door that leads to all of the purity and decency and morality that exists in the world and says to everything that would corrupt, everything that would pollute, everything that would decay: “Thus far, and no farther shalt thou go.” That is what we ought to be doing if we are the salt of the earth. However, for salt to preserve meat from corruption, it must have direct contact. The modern word is “involvement.” But today there are many Christians who have little involvement with the corrupting meat of this world. We have our own churches, our own schools, our own societies, our own sports teams, our own health insurance, our own fellowship groups, our own everything, and sometimes it is almost impossible to get the salt out of the salt shaker. It is so “comfy” in there. By the way, who wants to get rubbed all over that rotting meat, anyway? So, that direct contact is often avoided as much as possible. And as salt, Christians ought to make the world thirsty for the water of life, thirsty for the way of Christ, thirsty for righteousness and holiness and goodness, thirsty for the real thing. Jesus is the real thing: the real joy, the real peace, the real love, and the only real hope for mankind.
