Salt & Light – Intro
One question/thought that has plagued me over the last couple of weeks and keeps ringing in my head is, “How am I reaching my neighbors?” And as a pastor my next thought is, “How are we cultivating this within the minds of God’s people?” It’s not that I don’t believe evangelism isn’t happening when folks go out and shop or go to the pool. What I know about myself is that I have not done an effective job of cultivating relationships with my neighbors. They don’t know that my home is open to them, because I have not offered. Yes, this has been plaguing my thoughts.
One reason this has been on my mind is because of a message preached by Ligon Duncan at the Truth & Life conference at the Master’s College this year (you can listen to it here). He does a great job of communicating the balance we as Christians need to have of being in the world and not of the world.
I am going to continue to explore this and will probably preach on this the next opportunity I get.
Another interesting twist in this is Dr. Varner’s posts, that seem to be dealing with much of the same topic (Starting with the linked post read on for a few posts).
I am curious as to our readers take on this. What does it mean to be salt and light in the world?
Your thoughts?
A loaded question but I will give a brief answer off the top of my head. Salt and light both can have a positive influence for their intended surroundings. It seems our Lord is commanding His people to affect their circle of influence in a positive manner. Clearly the motivation is not self-promotion nor is it simply to make the world a quote “better place”. I would argue the motivation is to glorify God. God demonstrates his good influence everyday by his common grace. By being “in Christ”, Christians could not help but being a positive influence…. even if the “world” hates and rejects the good that comes from “being in Christ0″. (And the world will hate it……)
cheers Dave