What kind of impact do you think you’re having on the people around you? Has your place of work been changed for the better by your influence there? Have your neighbors been positively impacted by their interactions with you? Have your family and friends deepened in their love for Christ as a result of their relationship with you? In Matthew 5:13-16, Jesus calls His followers to be salt and light. In the first century, salt was used primarily as a preservative. Salt slowed decay. Even just 10 righteous people, a dash of salt, in Sodom and Gomorrah, would have preserved the cities. Christians are a preservative. We preserve people from God’s judgment as we share the love and truth of Christ. God the Spirit is at work through us delivering people. But Jesus warns us against losing our saltiness, against becoming ineffective, against ceasing to be of any benefit. How are we doing as “salt” in our country? If you judge from the current political and moral condition of our nation, not very well. Maybe the people of this nation are beyond saving. Maybe we should just let the country rot.

Jesus calls His followers to be salt and light. He compares us to a city shining bright at night and to a lamp on a stand, shedding light all around, lighting up the dark landscape or a dark room. This light that we have is the gospel, the truth of Jesus. The truth of Christ changes people. It brings light into lives darkened by sin and hopelessness. James Montgomery Boice writes the following: “In this age the world is illuminated by the church, sometimes brightly, as in the full moon of revival, sometimes only dimly, as today when there is only a thin sliver of genuine Christianity and we do not know if it is a waxing or a waning quarter.” Are we waxing or waning? Is our influence growing or shrinking? I really don’t know. All I know is that Jesus calls us to obey, to be salt and light. And it doesn’t matter how bad things are, we have the capacity, through Christ and by the Spirit, to obey. And Jesus warns us about the consequences of disobedience: if salt loses its saltiness, it is thrown out and trampled by men. Should we be preparing to be trampled on?