“Noticeable Difference.”
Matthew 5:13
Do you think people notice you? Do you think people see what you are doing, or how you are behaving in public? We all know what it is like to be in the grocery store and hear a child screaming at the top of their lungs. We feel embarrassed for the parents, or we feel annoyed that our grocery shopping is interrupted by an ill-behaved child. It is easy for us to think that, unlike a screaming child, we blend in, and no one notices us. But never underestimate the impact you may have doing simple things in public.
Earlier this week, Morgan and I went to a restaurant in Oshkosh to eat lunch. It was rather empty with only two other tables being occupied. After the waitress brought us our meal, Morgan and prayed together like we normally do. After we began eating, the waitress came back to our table and told us that she noticed that we prayed before our meal. She said she thought it was nice to see and said, “It isn’t something you see very often anymore.” Our intention in praying before our meal was not to draw attention to ourselves. Our intention was simply to thank God for the food we were about to eat and to give thanks for all that He has provided.
Two questions popped into my head after she said that. First, why isn’t praying before meals something that is observed more often? Second, am I being intentional about how I act?
Our simple act was noticed, and it impacted that young lady. Of course, I have no idea what the long-term impact will be on that waitress. She may have already forgotten about it. The point is that I don’t know the impact that my actions could have on others around me. As a Christian, that is something I need to be aware of. It is something we all need to be aware of. In this reading from the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus tells His disciples that they are “the salt of the earth.” This is part of the Sermon on the Mount. What does it mean to be salt of the earth? The salt metaphor could have a lot of meaning like preservation or taste. No matter how you look at it though, salt impacts what it encounters. A negative example would be rust. A positive example of course would be food preservation.
Jesus is telling His disciples (and yes that includes us) that His people should impact the world in a positive way. When we encounter other people, whether it is our family members, friends, co-workers, or strangers in a restaurant or grocery store, we can leave a good impression, or a bad impression. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to earn the reputation as a complaining customer who always sends their food back. I want to have a good reputation as someone who is kind and loving, not mean and abrasive or combative.
The end of the verse is stated negatively. “If salt should lose its taste, how can it be made salty? It’s no longer good for anything but to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet.” Salt can be diluted to the point is it no longer making a noticeable difference. Think about putting a small amount of salt in a large amount of water. The salt is diluted to the point where it has no impact on your taste buds. So how does this relate to Christians today? The dominant culture in the United States is no longer Christian. The faster we recognize that, the easier it will be for us to distinguish ourselves once again from the culture. For example, the celebration of sexual immorality in this nation is overwhelming. You can’t watch anything anymore without sexual immorality being promoted and celebrated as “freeing” or “empowering.”
The call to sexual morality and purity is all over the New Testament. This tells us that not much has changed in human immorality in the last two-thousand years. We are still facing temptation everywhere. Why? Because sin is still rampant around us and in some ways in us. As Christians we are not free from temptation. But we are free from the mastery of sin in our lives. “No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to humankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it” (1 Corinthians 10:13). God knows that we are tempted and has provided for us so that we can endure or escape the temptation. This applies to all sins, lying, greed, lust, malice, envy, hatred, etc. God will provide us strength to endure and escape.
We are called as Christ’s disciples to be the salt of the earth. Our actions – both in word and deed – will speak to the condition of our heart. If we are always angry or mean, people will see Christianity that way. Think of being the salt of the earthy as being an ambassador. If you are an ambassador, you represent your country. If we met an ambassador from England who was rude, mean, and condescending, we would assume that the people that sent him are like him. After all, he is representing them in an official way. The same can be said about us as Christ’s disciples. We are His ambassadors. We not only represent Jesus as our Lord and Savior, but we have been tasked with inviting others into a relationship with Him. If we are mean and unkind, I doubt people will want a relationship with us or with Jesus.
How are you impacting the people you interact with daily? Is your love of Jesus noticeable?
