Salty Glowers
What does it mean to be both salt and light?
You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet.
You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.
Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house.
In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
Matthew 5:13-16 (ESV)
Jesus tells us we are salt and light but really doesn’t tell us what this means.
What he does do is warn us not to lose our saltiness or inner glow.
How are salt and light the same?
What do they have in common?
And how are they spiritually different from each other?
Salt describes our substance, what we are inside.
Light describes our essence, what emits from us.
Salt is transportable. You can carry it in a sack and take it from one place to another. It describes the body we live in and operate out of.
Light is transmissible. It shines from a source and is seen across distances.
As salt describes our life here on earth, light describes our life emanating out of heaven.
It is centered and burning from within us.
It is God shining through.
As salt is finite, light is as close to infinite as my mind can comprehend.
Salt is about what I can do right here, right now. It is about making this world a better place.
Light is about life’s meaning, mine and yours, in a context beyond the confines of planet earth.