”This bowl of mee is not salty enough.”
It’s amazing how one’s attitude towards salt changes with age. When we were younger, clear soy sauce was applied liberally to ensure taste. Now, aware of hypertension and worse, we are conscious if dishes are too salty.
Its amazing that minute amounts of salt can effect such change in a dish. Which should come as tremendous encouragement to Christians who remain a small minority in Malaysia.
In Matthew 5:13-16, Jesus describes His disciples as salt and light. This is not a description of specific activities. It is a designation for what they are.
To be Christian is to BE salt and light.
Conversely, if we are not salt and light we are NOT Christian. Thus it is worthwhile to look afresh at what it means to be salt and light.
1. By their lives and their deeds, Christians act as moral and spiritual preservatives in society.
We associate salt with taste. But salt was used primarily as a preservative in biblical times. It prevented things from going bad. The implications are clear. If Christians in Malaysia consistently live out their faith, they help prevent society from degenerating spiritually and morally.
2. By their lives and their deeds, Christians testify to the reality of God and His ways.
In the ”anything goes” world of post modern times, Christians continue to maintain that ”there is only one God and one Mediator who can reconcile God and people. He is the man Christ Jesus” (1 Timothy 2:5 NLT). Jesus says that people will be aware of the reality of this God and give thanks to Him only as His disciples allow their good deeds to shine for all to see.
3. We can effectively be salt and light only if we are involved in the world around us.
So much of church effort and energy is spent in house, addressing the concerns of Christians and the church. But we are called to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world. There need to be a major rethink in most of our churches to the relative amounts of time we spend looking inward as opposed to the time we spend looking out at the needy world around us.
You don”t really need large amounts of salt to receive the benefit of its effects. We don”t have to wait till there are large numbers of Malaysian Christians to impact Malaysian society. But Christians have to be Christian. Salt has to be salty.
I have often wondered what would happen if overnight, all the Christians in Malaysia were to disappear. Would anyone notice the next morning?
Hey! I wish we could do a poll! If all the Christians in Malaysia were to suddenly disappear, it would:
- Have a tremendous effect on Malaysian society.
- Have a negligible effect on Malaysian society.
- Have no effect whatsoever on Malaysian society.
What do you think? Are Malaysian Christians salty enough? Are you salty enough? Am I?