Salt and Light?

For a while now I have struggled with the idea of becoming a salt and light to this world. Should we be pro-active or should we wait until the opportunity presents itself? Should we move with courage or should we exercise caution? Where is the line that would tell us whether we are in the "salt and light" zone or in the "you've gone too far" zone? And who gets to decide where we should draw this line?

We are called to be the salt and light of the world (Matthew 5:13-16). A salt by itself is hazardous when consumed, unless it blends itself with food. A light by itself it not pleasing to the eye when stared at, but would provide clarity when shone upon an object.

The world and all its culture is a food to be salted. The world with all of its majestic properties (or lack thereof) is the object to be light upon.

However, some believers would argue otherwise and condemn the use of this world's culture as the "food" and the "object" for our salt and light. They would argue that the salt and light alone will be sufficient to reflect God's glory.

Furthermore, they would advise that we should never go near this world to avoid being contaminated by its culture.

As a result, we are unable to salt this world's culture and elevate it to its original intention. We fail to shine this world's culture and expose its lack of glory in order to restore it to its original purpose. Instead, we become an annoyance for people around us by force-feeding them with nothing but pure salt, and blinding the eyes of those around us even further by forcing them to stare at a light without an object.

Yes, I am fully aware that we are not to conform to the pattern of this world (Romans 12:12), but the one who is in us is greater than the one who is in the world (1 John 4:4). Just like Jesus, we should not be afraid to dine with the "sinners" and "tax collectors" of this world, for we know that whatever happens, we know that the outcome would always be the Lord's victory and that his love will never be apart from us, no matter where we go to salt and light this world.

I will leave you with some excerpts taken from Romans 8:31&37-39:

"If God is for us, who can be against us? In all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."