Reflection
Your light must shine before others,
that they may see your good deeds and glorify God.
Matthew 5:13-16
It’s easy to act with integrity and let our light shine in the midst of approval and admiration, when things are going smoothly and everyone agrees. We can be proud of ourselves and be satisfied that we are indeed the salt of the earth. The situation is different when being the light means facing opposition and people who do not see flavor in our particular salt. The temptation is strong to crawl under the bushel basket where it is safe. That’s where courage and commitment are required. That’s where Christ’s challenge is. Light fills an entire space; salt flavors an entire dish. There is no in between.
Prayer
May I try to be salt and light in my small circle of the world.
Action
Reflect on the meaning of salt without flavor and light that is hidden. How does it apply to you?
Suggested Reading
Jesus said to his disciples:
“You are the salt of the earth.
But if salt loses its taste, with what can it be seasoned?
It is no longer good for anything
but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.
You are the light of the world.
A city set on a mountain cannot be hidden.
Nor do they light a lamp and then put it under a bushel basket;
it is set on a lampstand,
where it gives light to all in the house.
Just so, your light must shine before others,
that they may see your good deeds
and glorify God.”
Matthew 5:13-16
Salt has meaning when it gives flavor to something. Salt kept in a bottle, with the humidity, loses its strength and is useless. Christians must go out with the message, go out with the riches of salt that we have received and give it to others.
Pope Francis
No man is worth his salt who is not ready at all times to risk his well-being, to risk his body, to risk his life, in a great cause.
Theodore Roosevelt
The Bible says that Christians are the salt of the earth and the light of the world. On the job, in the grocery store, even among… friends and family members, God’s people are there to bring seasoning to an unsavory situation.
Joyce Meyer
We cannot hold a torch to light another’s path without brightening our own.
Ben Sweetland
Light gives of itself freely, filling all available space. It does not seek anything in return; it asks not whether you are friend or foe. It gives of itself and is not thereby diminished.
Michael Strassfeld
There are two ways of spreading light; to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it.
Edith Wharton
When you possess light within, you see it externally.
Anaïs Nin
Faith is the bird that feels the light and sings when the dawn is still dark.
Rabindranath Tagore
You are the light of the world!
You are the light of the world!
But if that light is under a bushel,
Brrr, it’s lost something kind of crucial
You got to stay bright to be the light of the world!
You are the salt of the earth
You are the salt of the earth
But if that salt has lost its flavor
It ain’t got much in its favor
You can’t have that fault and be the salt of the earth!
So let your light so shine before men
Let your light so shine
So that they might know some kindness again.
Godspell