latashamorgan.com

Help My Unbelief

I am salt and I am light

In today's society salt seems sparse and light just a little bit dim. I just had to ask the question, Why?

As Christ followers, isn't our first responsibility to follow Christ? And in order to properly do that, shouldn't we study those spiritual places that he lived in? Sometimes, we get so caught up in wanting to show others where their paths are wrong, but the first thing Christ dealt with was making certain that his path was straight. He kept his life clean, loved others, gave of himself and made sure that there was a place prepared for anyone who wanted to follow his lead.

As his followers and as people who claim him as savior, our responsibility is to imitate the life of Christ. Be light as he was light and be salt as he was salt. He never used salt in the eyes of those who wanted to see, but used it to preserve goodness, to enhance righteousness, to give flavor where it was lacking. Light was used, not to interrogate but to give sight to those who were blind, lost and stumbling through darkness.

It is tempting, sometimes, to want to correct the wrong we see in someone else's life when that same wrong, or some version or assimilation of that sin is present in our lives. The word says is like this, "Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, 'let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye. (Matthew 7:3-5)

I will explain it like this, a surgeon does not do surgery with clouded goggles on. He or she must go in prepped with an understanding of the problem or thing that needs to be operated on. They are normally very careful when performing the surgery, because they do not want to be responsible for injuring other parts or organs in that person's life. And so very gently, very carefully, and after much study and practice they are able to perform a successful operation.

To be salt and light the way God intends, and not the way man intends, we must be gentle, careful, prepared in his word and not our feelings and opinions, and we must have so much practice. There needs to be a steady life attached to the person who wants to correct another, just like there needs to be a steady hand attached to any surgeon. We must be careful not to injure or harm, because injuries are not always reversible. We must make sure that our lives are salt and not salt mixed with other things.

If we look at how Christ corrected, he was never mean-spirited, never hateful, never trying to embarrass or do damage but his correction was for a purpose, and that was to build-up the person being corrected, and to bring that person closer to him and further away from their sin. When he healed sinners, he did not then go and name a list of the sins that they committed in front of all who were present. He and the person healed understood that there were things that needed to be corrected, and his charge was a simple 'go, and sin no more.' He did not make a spectacle of himself or the life that he was correcting. At no time did he eat with sinners and mock them, he loved them and wanted the best for their lives. He did not talk behind their backs and laugh at the sins, but genuinely cared for people at great expense to himself. He was a doctor to the sick, light to darkness, and salt to a flavorless world.

I pray this for our lives, that we can honestly proclaim "I am salt and I am light!" And that our lives line up perfectly with that proclamation.