Qualities that make us the salt of the earth and light of the world

Welcome, dear readers, to „Daily Word for Spiritual Edification”! Yesterday we talked about the fact that it is God’s nature in us that makes us the salt of the earth and the light to the world. If we reflect God’s nature in our lives, we will able to improve our society and fill it with the light of God’s truth. But if we lead a selfish life harbouring unforgiveness and bitterness and if we do not reflect God’s nature in our lives, then we will be like the salt that has lost its power and has become useless. In Mathew, 5 we find 8 particular qualities that are necessary in order for us not to lose our strength: 

« And seeing the multitudes, He went up on a mountain, and when He was seated His disciples came to Him. Then He opened His mouth and taught them, saying: „Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you » (Mathew, 5:1-12).

 We find the following qualities in this passage of Scripture: 1) Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven (Mathew, 5:3). This talks about dependency on God. Our lives depend on God. And since we realize our dependency, we must continually come to God and spend time with Him. This is a foundational step in becoming the salt of the earth and the light of the world; we must live a life that is totally depended on God! 2) Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted (Mathew, 5:4). Sin, unrighteousness and injustice that surround us must motivate us to pray and mourn before God, to stand in the gap for our land. It must motivate us to repent of the sins and unrighteousness of our nation. When we look at the things around us with God’s eyes, then everything that grieves God will grieve us as well. This is where passion is born and a vision for change is conceived. 3) Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth (Mathew, 5:5). A meek person is the person who submits his will to God’s Word and God’s will. Meekness is the quality that implies submission to a higher authority, submission to the laws of God. For a meek person, God and His will is the main law and authority. 4) Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled (Mathew, 5:6). This verse tells us we need to thirst and hunger for God, the relationships with Him, the revelations of His ways and the nature hidden in us. We must thirst for a deeper understanding of God’s ways, and we must learn His ways. If that is how we live, then we will truly be the salt and the light to our society. 5) Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy (Mathew, 5:7). It talks here about showing mercy to the people around us. When we help the people that have many needs and problems, we show to the world that our God is merciful and compassionate. We can reflect God’s love by our actions. 6) Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God (Mathew, 5:8). Here it talks about the importance of having a pure heart. We need to keep our hearts clean from any filth. We must have pure motives in all that we do. It is possible to do right things, but not have pure motives. We can only be the salt and the light to the world if we have pure hearts and pure motives. 7) Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God (Mathew, 5:9). We should be the people who seek peace and spread peace and not strife around us. We should seek to improve the relationships between people, instead of creating confusion and complications. We must be the people that seek to reconcile people one to another. Our job is to spread around us the atmosphere of peace and unity. 8) Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven (Mathew, 5:10-11). If a person wants to be an ambassador for God, the salt and the light to the earth, he or she must be tough and able to deal with the difficulties in life, bear pain, sufferings and injustice, while enjoying life. We must be the people who have joy despite of trials and temptations, and not complain about life and wail in depression, because we know that God is in control and our whole life depends on Him alone. If we will set our hearts on developing these 8 qualities, we will gain power that helps us to salt the earth with God’s righteousness and truth. We will continue to talk more on this tomorrow. Please do not forget that you are the salt to the earth and the light to the world!Be blessed!Pastor Rufus Ajiboye