Light and Salt

Ye (old English plural form of "you") are the Light of the world...ye are the salt of the earth....

What if we took these words as reality, instead of as metaphor?  What if the followers, disciples, of Jesus were truly light and salt?  And what if we thought of ourselves that way?  Would it make a difference in the way we relate to others around us?

In the Old Testament world, "salt" was preservation; it kept things from spoiling -- we know that.  But "salt" was also a sign of friendship.  It was so rare that Roman soldiers were paid in "salt," the source of our word "salary."  If you shared salt with your dinner guests, it was a sign of friendship, equilavent to handing them part of your salary.  So "an offering of salt" was a sign of friendship with God.

If we are the friends of God, through our relationship with His Son, then it seems to me that we would want to extend the friendship to all we meet.  It is not something about which we boast, but something for which we are eternally grateful and that we want others to know about and share in.

If Christ dwells in us through faith in Him, then it is His Light we radiate to the world.  Like the moon reflecting the light of the sun, those who have some relationship to Jesus should reflect His Light also.  But we cannot reflect His Light unless we are continually "facing" or looking at Him.  If we turn our back on Him, our light will go out.  And the world around us has no use for burned-out lightbulbs or tasteless salt.