Focus: Relevance (Pt.3)

Text: Mt.5:13,14

"Ye are the SALT of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men. Ye are the LIGHT of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid."

The Lord Jesus Christ says, "You are the SALT of the earth… You are the LIGHT of the world." The 'salt' and 'light' metaphors convey a powerful message regarding relevance and impact.

As a believer in Christ, your presence on earth is meant to be positively impactful. Christ the light lives in you, and He wants to shine through you. He wants the world around you to feel the positive effects of His presence and power through you.

Let us look at the metaphor of salt. Salt is a seasoner. It seasons food and makes it tasty. Christ has salted your life and your lips. He has seasoned your soul with grace, and wherever you go you permeate society and create moral and spiritual taste.

One benefit of salt is that it prevents decay. In the days of no freezer or fridge, salt was used to preserve meat and prevent decay. Spiritually speaking, the salt of grace holds evil back.

Another benefit of salt is that it gives flavor to food. It helps us to savor foods. It permeates the food and creates taste. It's not about quantity, but quality. It has a pervasive effect and subtle influence.

Like the salt, God wants us to live a relevant life - life that is useful and purposeful.

In this world God has clothed us with grace and filled us with His Spirit, making it possible for us to rightly influence our world, and to permeate our society with divine goodness. We are empowered to add spice to life.

Even our words are seasoned with the salt of grace. Paul says, "Let your speech be alway with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man" (Col.4:6).

Our faith is meant to impact society. It has social value. There's nothing like solitary faith, and certainly nothing like cocooned or caged faith. Only a savory faith. Paul, full of praises for God, says, "Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the SAVOUR of his knowledge BY us in every place" (2Cor.2:14). He goes on to say, "For we are unto God a SWEET SAVOUR of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish" (2Cor.2:15). We create taste and spread around the world the sweet scent of Christ.

The Father enjoyed the good odour of Christ's life and redemptive work, and for that, Paul tells us, "And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour" (Eph.5:2). The cross is God's cologne. The sweet scent of the cross saturates God's space. Christ lived a salted life - life so tasty, so fragrant, and so worthy of emulation!

We make a difference not only in the world, but also in heaven. We make a difference to God through our worship, and to the world through our works.

Paul writes, "But I have all, and abound: I am full, having received of Epaphroditus the things which were sent from you, an odour of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, well pleasing to God" (Phil.4:18). The offering and sacrifice of the church of Macedonia blessed Paul and pleased God. It was full of sweet fragrance, and God felt it.

If we are not lighting up the world and salting the earth, then we are not living relevant lives. Our existence on earth is then useless and meaningless. Remember that light and salt do not exist for themselves; they exist for us. They serve and satisfy us. They impact us and make a difference in our lives. In the same way, God planted us here for the good of others. We do not exist for ourselves. As light we shine, and as salt, we sweeten our world. That is relevance!

by Bishop Moses E. Peter