By Sarah De Coste You can watch this talk HERE. Matthew 5:1313 “You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything, but is thrown out and trampled under foot.
14 “You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. 15 No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven. This verse is saying that when we hide, when we ignore the salt and light of Christ in ourselves, we can feel pointless, we can feel lost and confused. Our faith, when we experience God, when we embrace his love, and when we embrace his truth and goodness and let him change our life, it's like a lamp is lit, do you hide it? Do you allow your light to shine? Do you allow it to bring light to others? Do you allow it to show truth to others and yourself? Do you allow the light to guide you and lead you or do you leave it behind? Do you only bring out your light when you feel safe or is it the first thing others see? Let's break it down a bit more, Salt. i love salt. Salt is a beautiful thing, alone it isn't the greatest thing, if you have ever licked a salt block for cows you will understand this. Yet salt added to any dish can enhance what’s already there. Did you know that if you put a little bit of salt on a watermelon it will taste sweeter. Salt doesn't automatically make things saltier, what it does is enhance the natural flavour. So when scripture tells us we need to be the salt of the world, that doesn't mean that we are the only way people can know God, we are not the great all grand for humanity. Yes people can experience and should experience Christ through us, but for us being the salt to the world means that we don't make Christ be in others, but we bring him out of others. Every person has Christ in them, whether they acknowledge it or not we are all made in the image and likeness of God, and as such we are His children. For us to be the salt of the world means that we should bring Christ out in others, that we should inspire others to find Christ in themselves. He is already there, he already exists, but sometimes sins can make us feel so far from God, they can make us feel like we aren't good. That were evil and bad, but that's not true. God isn't evil, God can't be evil, and so if we are made in his image and likeness, we are inherently good. To show people this, to help people accept that they aren't evil is an interesting task, because it usually means showing our own imperfections. Testimonies are some of the most powerful messages. It shows us as sinners, that I'm not different than you, maybe my sins are different but they’re still sins. Showing someone that God still loves us, and is present in us in our imperfection is beautiful, because the world is VERY unforgiving, but God is. An easy way to be salt to people is through love. Scripture tells us God is love, and when we believe and understand that God is love, that means that when we help others to love, we are helping them to grow closer to God, to witness God in them. Wherever love is God is, so when any one does anything loving, they are uniting themselves to God who is love. The second part of the verse is about being a light to the world. Salt enhances what’s already there, light reveals it. Light allows us to see things we may not have noticed. Light brings truth, when you look into a room and its dark, any figures can take the form of something you don't recognize. What happens when you turn on the light? You see things clearly. The person sitting on your chair is actually a pile of dirty clothes. The world is a foggy mess, it's like all the lights are off, Satan gives half truths to people, his mission is to keep us confused. The longer we’re confused, the longer we live in half truths, the longer we are away from the fullness of God, the longer we remain distant from Christ. Scripture says in John 14:6 Jesus is the way the truth and the life, He gives us clarity, he gives us understanding, knowledge, peace, and hope. So how can we give that to everyone else? The way we live our lives, the way we remain steadfast and honest in how we live for God, that is a light in the world. When we treat others with respect and love regardless of how they treat us we are showing the truth that everyone deserves love and respect no matter what. When we stand up to a bully, when we reach out and show a loner friendship. When we actively seek to include others. In all those small moments we are being a light to others. When we’re suffering, when there're hard times those are the moments we show what faith is. It's easy to have faith in God when our life is going great, but when we are suffering those are the moments we can unite ourselves to Jesus’ cross. Those are the moments we show that we don't believe in God because he makes our life easy, but we believe in him because he gets us through the hard times. When we remain faithful in hard times, when our life sucks and yet we still have joy I don't mean you fake that you're good, because i can have moments when i'm devastated and I'm hurting and in pain and yet I can still stop and laugh at something, when we hold onto the cross in our sufferings and unite them to Christs sufferings, because we know that suffering has a purpose, that we can offer it up, and that we can give it to God. Our whole lives can be a light to others, not because we're perfect, but because we try to be, because we don't give up. What about now? How can we in everyday life, no matter what that looks like be salt and light to the world. What do you spend your time on? Do you pray everyday and make sure that you are rooted in God, in his love? Do you read your bible? Do you listen to the words of God? Do you spread love through social media? Or do you share gossip? Do you spend your time focusing on the lives of people who inspire you to be better? Or people whose lives inspire greed? What type of accounts do you follow? Is God a genie to you? Is He someone you only pursue when you need help or is He a friend? Do you pursue him or ignore him? We have so many choices, and even though we mess up, even though we ignore him, we aren't perfect, He still sits there, with a smile on his face looking at you because he loves you. It doesn't matter what you've done, what matters is what you do next.
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PulsePulse is our Jr High group (Grades 6-9) for those who want to be journeying to learn more about God and how He fits into this crazy thing called life! From Saint of the Day to talks to activities, we work to understand more about our faith and its importance in our everyday lives as we all work to become modern day saints. Categories
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