Salt and Light

Andra and I went to see The Resurrection of Gavin Stone last night and it was a joy to see such a quality production that shares the message of Christ on the "big screen."  To those who wrote the script and acted in the film, awesome job!   The message of humility and the continued, consistent love of Christ for the main character stirred my heart to the point of tears and reaffirmed the desire God put in all of us to be salt and light.  Matthew 5:13-16 “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out andtrampled under foot by men. “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. ...

Which brings to mind "how much flavor does your life have and are you sharing that flavor with others?" Jesus doesn't say "if" you are the salt of the earth. He says "you are the salt of the earth." When we receive Christ we get our "life flavoring" and that flavoring makes an impact on all who come in contact with it. Basically, it doesn't mean we might be, but it does mean "we are." Scripture tells us some of the flavor we have, as given through the Holy Spirit in our life. In Galatians 5:22-23 Paul shares some of these fruits with us where he says, "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law." Catch it where he says, "the fruit of the Spirit is." Here is the wisdom in this passage. When we accept Jesus, the Holy Spirit takes control of our life. The Holy Spirit being in our life starts to be seen in our actions and words. When we see those changes in our life that fruit does some more changing in us and draws us into a love relationship that continues to deepen us in our faith. That deepening helps us come to a spiritual understanding of what God is trying to do in this whole thing we call "life." The deepening causes more of Christ to be seen and less of us. That effect changes how people perceive us and the message of Christ begins to come alive in our hearts and our actions. "SALT" That flavoring in our life continues to cause us to be bold in our faith and share the message even more aggressively because it is at our core. The light comes from that core in a powerful, dark-shattering way. The light from our life starts to make evident the wrong things in the darkness and sheds light on the real life that is available for all through Jesus. It is a cause and effect type of process that you can't put a time frame on, but just know that it happens. Some people call it spiritual growth to try to explain it, but in reality the Holy Spirit is highly misunderstood by most of us believers because He does things that matter to Him as the Holy Spirit, and by the way, He is also God, so there you go. God's ways are higher than our ways and our human filter has a tough time understanding them. Paul apparently was grasping these deep truths more and more with every journey he took for Christ, because his letters were saturated with pure truth and models for growing closer to God. He had to know what that depth looked like to tell others about it, but even his explanations for drawing closer to God are a little out of our realm. In 1 Corinthians 2:16 Paul alludes to this where he writes, "For who has known the mind of the Lord, that He will instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ. All of this doesn't mean that we cannot get to know God in this deep way, but it does mean that the path is through the Holy Spirit in our life. For years I have been giving my denomination a "pass" on their desire to leave out the working of the Holy Spirit from conversations, Bible Studies, and overall attitude. This "leaving out" has resulted in a powerless, apathetic, worldly attempt to do ministry and the effect of that stand has been more of a curse to the cause of Christ than a help. I will no longer give that "pass" and the truth is we cannot do ANYTHING without the power of the Holy Spirit. In the past I have seen us worry more about the abuses of the Holy Spirit and leave out the blessings of the Holy Spirit and we can see that the effect of that stance is a powerless church and people. In other words, Salt and Light have been compromised and the sharing of the gospel weakened. Souls lost to hell. The light under a bushel. ( ala Matthew 5:15 KJV) As the scripture says, "We just don't do that!!" We put the light on a candlestick so it can light the whole house. The whole house!!!

So, where is your salt? He is in your life and He is called the Holy Spirit. As Jesus said, "You ARE the salt of the earth: BUT....if... Don't even let it get to the if or the but. Keep the salt and freshness of Christ in your life growing and ever-increasing by deepening your walk with the Lord and you will be all He intends for you to be.....You can't help it!! 

If I was a cook who was preparing a wonderful dish, I would look for the seasoning that would make the dish taste the best. For our life, the best seasoning is SALT!! It is who you are and who Christ wants to use to share his message. Jesus took fishermen, tax collectors, doctors, executioners, prostitutes, and many other undesirables and with His salt made them useful for sharing the message of hope. Surely He can use you and me to continue to share this message and we have all we need to make it happen. The Holy Spirit is our Salt and Light and without Him we can do nothing. With Him we can do anything!!!

Get to know the Holy Spirit in your life and truly come alive in Christ. It is time for God to be seen in our lives and our witness, but that only happens when we tap into the power that is within us, the Holy Spirit. No more tasteless faith. Now is the time for good tasting flavor and it is only found through the Holy Spirit. Deal with it!!

The Pilgrimage continues.....

David Warren