“Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”
Matthew 5:16 (RSV)
“You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltness be restored?”
Matthew 5:13 (RSV)
Jesus told us we are to be both salt and light. Light can be seen, but not heard, and salt flavors food, which is tasted, but not seen. It sounds like Jesus is telling us that light and flavor leave more of an impact than words. Even the most subtle action can shine His light and leave a flavor of Christ with someone forever.
Before we can touch anyone around us, with light or salt, we first have to be impacted by it ourselves. Once we have experienced the love, mercy and forgiveness of Christ, we will spread the flavor of Christ and shine His light, as we mingle with others.
Spreading light and salt requires involvement with others, beyond going to church each week. It may start there, by personally receiving the love and forgiveness of Jesus, but then we are called to go out into the world and find a way to pay it forward to others.
Salt permeates the food by leaving its flavor. We never know how a little of our salt is impacting someone else’s life. We may unknowingly leave a flavor of salt or shine our light, so that it permeates and changes someone’s life for good.
Salt also has a preservative effect on food, which means one kind deed will be remembered for a lifetime in someone’s memory, even if they spoke very few words with that person. Something about them remains with us in a positive way, because they left a flavor of Christ with us.
Based on Jesus’ words in today’s scriptures, God intended for us to be reflecting His light and leaving His flavor with others, which happens with or without words. I believe most people are totally unaware of how much they have influenced others to deepen their faith. I can think of a few people who have influenced me before I surrendered my life to Christ. I recently learned about a person who was influenced by something I said or did, decades earlier.
I had an acquaintance in college, named Yoshi, who was born in Japan, but lived in Chicago, and had been brought up in the Buddhist faith. During the period of time in my college years, I was very enthusiastic about my new found joy of living for Christ. A personal relationship with Jesus was a totally new concept to me, and I used to freely talk about it with anyone, if the subject came up.
I shared my faith with Yoshi for the brief time that I knew him in college.
I remember he visited my church as well as the campus Christian group a few times, but we eventually lost contact and went our separate ways. I went on with my life and he went on with his, and I never thought much about Yoshi again.
Recently, Yoshi’s path crossed the path of my brother in law, where they met at a church meeting. Yoshi shared his story with my brother in law of how he become a Christian, actively practicing his faith for many decades. He told my brother in law that I was the person who influenced him to convert to Christianity.
When my brother in law told me about meeting Yoshi, I remembered him, but was surprised that he so embraced Christianity enough to convert. I also have no idea how I made an impact on him in that brief period of time, but I was glad to hear he stayed with his faith all of those years.
Yoshi’s outcome gives me hope that the Lord may use someone else one day, to shine a little light or salt the life of some of my own relatives, who currently do not believe in God at all. Sometimes the right stranger can influence a person more than the closest relative can. God uses all people but the Holy Spirit does the real miracle, in His own time.
There are also many other ways that a person’s light shines and their salt leaves a flavor to impact others, but it doesn’t always involve conversions to Christianity. There are many true stories about people who showed amazing grace, and forgave others who caused life altering injuries or the death of a loved one. The Spirit of God within us, helps us to shine His light of forgiveness and spread the flavor of His mercy to others.
It could even be a kind deed that is done for someone in desperate need, or by forgiving someone after being wronged by them in some way. The light and salt we share, stays with a person, impacting them for years, according to God’s divine purpose.
This is a very small example, but I felt God’s mercy through it. A few weeks ago I was backing out of the church parking lot on a week day, and accidentally scratched the car parked next to me. I felt terrible and a friend who was in the parking lot at that time, came over to look at the scratch. I asked if he knew whose car it was, and he thought it might belong to one of the teachers, since there is a grade school affiliated with our church.
So I went to the school office, and explained what happened, leaving the license number of the scratched car, along with my name and phone number. The next day, I received a voicemail message on my phone. It was the teacher who owned the car and she left the following message:
“This message is for Maria. Thank you for leaving your name and number, but it’s just a scratch, so please don’t worry about it and have a Merry Christmas.”
I never met or knew the woman whose car I scratched, but I was impacted by her forgiveness. I left her a message thanking her. If I ever meet her, I’m sure I would greet her with a hug. I was preparing myself to have an insurance claim, and pay for the repairs, but instead, I received a taste of mercy.
Some people are like light and salt, who, through their actions, shine His light and leave a flavor of God’s mercy everywhere they go, like that teacher. She took one action, and it was in forgiving me, which means more than words. Some day it will be my turn, to pay it forward and show mercy to someone else who has wronged me, whether it’s something done deliberately or by mistake.
Thank you Lord, for the unique way you use each one of us as salt and light in this world. Help us to always reflect your light of forgiveness and spread the flavor of your mercy to others. Amen
