Many of us have enjoyed messages about who we are in Christ. Those messages are great and have encouraged our faith. This holiday season, I want to encourage you of who you are in the world. Our world is in a terrible condition. People are scared of what will happen. Even those here in the United States, which have so much, are no longer thankful for what they have but are scared of losing it. I am told that 47 million people in the U.S.A. live in food insecure households. Hundreds of thousands of Christians are losing their life through persecution. Yet billions of dollars are spent every year by churches and ministries. Why is the world in such bad shape?
I believe this is the reason. Christians don’t understand their place in the world. Jesus tells us what we are in the world in Matthew 5:13–16, “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men. 14 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; 15 nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. 16 “Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.” (NASB95) You are the salt of the earth. In Jesus’ day, the salt was different than the salt we get out of our saltshakers today. It was much stronger and courser. Instead of being used for flavoring, it was used to purify and preserve food and other things like leather and hides. When Jesus called us salt, He was saying that our position in the world is to preserve it, to keep it from corruption.
The way they tested salt in Jesus’ day was to taste it. If it had no taste, they knew that it would not do its job of preserving whatever needed it. If the salt doesn’t have a taste, it is thrown out in the street and walked on. As believers, we must preserve the world, and we do that by standing up for righteousness. Our president elect will not do it, our pastors alone cannot do it. Every believer must take their place in the world and preserve righteousness.
The next thing that Jesus said was we are the light of the world. Where salt many times is caustic, light has a soothing quality. Over the years, I have woken up in many different countries and situations. Sometimes, I did not even know where I was. My first reaction was to turn the light on. Then, I could see the place I was in and go back to sleep.
Jesus calls us the light of the world. The Greek word for world is kósmos. It means order or arrangement. We get our English word cosmetics from it. As believers, we need to shed light on the order in which the world operates. We need to be giving light to first see Jesus and, secondly, the way things should be. We need to take away the fear that many have of not knowing where they are going.
Jesus continues to tell us to let our light shine before men in such a way that they can see our good works and glorify our Father in heaven. What is the way that Jesus mentioned? Whatever we can do to help them see the light. That may be a kind word or an encouragement. It may mean feeding them or just being nice to them. It may mean stopping and praying with them.
Please take your place in the world.
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