Salt and Light

In Matthew, Jesus says we are to be salt and light in the world around us. Salt does no good in a container sitting on the table. It is only when it is poured out, away from its safe container and surrounded by identical grains, that it can do its job in a messy world. Salt interacts with food, embeds deeply, changes the chemistry, and brings out latent flavor. It can also preserve the nutritional qualities to withstand time and hardship. This is what it means to be salt.

When we are poured out, we should change the world around us, taking what we know to be true and seasoning the lives all around us. By being the salt in the lives of others, our hope is that we help embed Jesus into their lives and sow the seeds for the transformative power of his love. Our hearts should be the salt and light for a dark world around us. We can’t live within that container, surrounded by those exactly like us, and simply expect people to change and to be clean before attempting to enter. We should strive to get in the dirt with them, in the very mess of their lives and struggles, and show Jesus’ life to them when they most need it. It is there, when you meet people where they are, that you can truly show them love, and teach them what it is to walk in the love of Christ.

We go now to a school filled to the brim with those who need Jesus. This is the opportunity to be the salt and the light every day. This school understands that a church isn’t a place for the well, but for the sick, and has opened its doors to anyone, saved or unsaved, so that everyone has the chance to experience Jesus and his love and the truth of his redemptive power. It is through the Christian curriculum and each teacher’s love for Jesus that the kids learn who Jesus is and, at a very personal level, what Jesus has done for them.

Educational missions are what we have been called to do. Through teaching and building relationships with the students at school, we are able to show them who Jesus is and the great love he has for each of them. The opportunity has been opened for these kids from Thailand, the Philippines, and China to be exposed to Jesus each day, and now it is our job to be intentional and ensure that Christ remains at the center of their education, and his words do not devolve into simply vocabulary work to learn English.

How then can they call on him whom they have not believed in? And how can they believe without hearing about him? And how can they hear without a preacher?

Romans 10:14

This verse from Romans 10 is our entire mission. Pray for us as we get ready to embark. To step into a dark world that desperately needs the light of Christ that fills each member of our family.