A CHRISTIAN LOOKS AT MATTHEW’S GOSPEL
Making our presence felt
Reading: Matthew 5:13-16 Click to view passage
This passage is about our influence. The distractive behaviour that results from the beatitudes will touch society. Not directly, we are not told to scatter salt but to be like salt. Although often derided and despised, the principles we hold should have a purifying and moral effect in our community and nation. At the very least this means we can’t be isolationists but must be in touch with the non-Christian world around us. If salt (vv13-14) speaks of a hidden influence, there is something much more open about the radiance of light (vv14-16). It shines but there is nothing ostentatious and the illumination doesn’t draw attention to itself. Note it doesn’t say “let your lights shine” but “light” so perhaps it is speaking of the Christian community as a whole.
We are clearly set on the skyline on a hilltop for all so see but we must strive to make sure it is the result of salt and the consequences of the light that people see and not us.
Meditation: Think of ways that our life can influence the morality of our society.
Prayer pointer: Help me to have a pungently purifying effect on my community and to reflect something of the light of heaven wherever I go
Making our presence felt
Reading: Matthew 5:13-16 Click to view passage
This passage is about our influence. The distractive behaviour that results from the beatitudes will touch society. Not directly, we are not told to scatter salt but to be like salt. Although often derided and despised, the principles we hold should have a purifying and moral effect in our community and nation. At the very least this means we can’t be isolationists but must be in touch with the non-Christian world around us. If salt (vv13-14) speaks of a hidden influence, there is something much more open about the radiance of light (vv14-16). It shines but there is nothing ostentatious and the illumination doesn’t draw attention to itself. Note it doesn’t say “let your lights shine” but “light” so perhaps it is speaking of the Christian community as a whole.
We are clearly set on the skyline on a hilltop for all so see but we must strive to make sure it is the result of salt and the consequences of the light that people see and not us.
Meditation: Think of ways that our life can influence the morality of our society.
Prayer pointer: Help me to have a pungently purifying effect on my community and to reflect something of the light of heaven wherever I go
No comments:
Post a Comment