Lasting Impact

We are called to be salt-seasoning and light-bearers in our world. "Wait a second," you may be saying. "Surely, God did not mean me." Yes, God meant for you and me, his followers to be salt-seasoning and light-bearers in our world. When Jesus said, "You . . ." he meant "You, and you alone . . ." His words were not a suggestion, but a command. With urgency in his voice, Jesus says, "If you are salt, then season!" "If you are light, then shine!"

"You are the salt of the earth . . . You are the light of the world" (Matt. 5:13,14 NIV). Do you notice what is absent in this command? The words like or as. We are commanded to be salt and light not just to be like salt and light. The common denominator of salt and light is their uniqueness, their distinctness. There is nothing quite like salt. There is nothing quite like light.

Just as salt is different than pepper, and light is distinct from darkness, so are Christians distinct from the world. Have you ever been with a group of people and someone started to tell an off-point joke and then stopped in mid-sentence after looking at you? Your distinctiveness was coming through. Have you ever been with a group of people and they suggested going somewhere that they wouldn't want their children knowing about, but then said we can't do that because you were with them? Your distinctiveness was showing through.

It is the Christians' distinctiveness that makes a difference in the world. In business, it is called marketing. In advertising, it is called positioning. In football, it is called strategy. In Christians, it is called holiness. It is the distinguishing feature about us. It is what sets us apart from the rest of the world. Blaise Pascal said, "The serene, silent beauty of a holy life is the most powerful influence in the world, next to the might of God."

Jesus warned his followers, "But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men" (Matt. 5:13 NIV). Perhaps the most important thing about salt is that in its purest form it never loses its taste. Salt will always be salt. It is an extremely stable compound. You can put it in a dish, walk away, come back ten years later, and it will still be sodium chloride - salt. The only way salt can lose its saltiness is to be mixed with something else.

The point Jesus is making that it is dangerously easy for Christians to become diluted and lose their salty, preserving influence in the world.

If we are not affecting our world, the world is affecting us. If we are not salting the world, the world is rotting us.

What Should I Know/Do?

In order to prevent the world from affecting us, we must stay in close contact with the ultimate influence - Christ himself. A man bought one of those glow in the dark figures for his daughter. It stayed in the box until he got home that night. When he gave it to his daughter and told her what it was she was so excited. She tore open the box to reveal her gift. But it did not glow. She was sad. "What's wrong, Daddy?" she asked. The answer was revealed on the label attached to the figurine: If you want me to shine in the night, keep me in the light.

So it is with us. We must expose ourselves to Jesus, spend time in his word, soak up his rays through prayer. A weekly contact produces a weak influence. A daily contact produces a dynamic influence.

Lifting Prayers

Dear Lord, I thank you father. Thou art in Heaven, Blessed be thy Holy Name, Thy Kingdom is from everlasting and Thy will be done here on earth as it is in Heaven. Grant us this day grace for lasting impact. We are from Zion, we are from Him who is Light and whose Light is the Life of men... As we brood within us, your word, live in habitual fellowship with you, may we outshine the darkness within us to be able to radiantly shine to our world without nothing blocking our light... Help us as Light to give light, to direct, to be a positive model of reference in all and let the world crave for the Light we carry. All we ask EL-ROI is grace for Lasting impact. Amen!