Matthew 5:13-16
13. “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor,
how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to
be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men.
14. “You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden.
15.Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand,
and it gives light to all who are in the house.
16. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your
good works and glorify your Father in heaven.
The Lord Jesus Christ had compared His disciples and believers generally to two great irresistible agents in the world. He compared His believes to SALT and He compared them to LIGHT. No one can resist Salt. Even if you don’t use it often in your food for health reason, there are other dozens of ways salt can be used in the house. As cleaning agent and as protective agent. Salt has so much irresistible power in the kitchen that an absence of it will make your food tasteless. But more importantly, the principal function of salt: It preserve from decay and rottenness.
And LIGHT. Who can resist light? It has so much irresistible influence that people draw closer to wherever light is existing. People gather around lantern in the house and you see a whole community hiring security men to guide their transformers, lest they are stolen away and they are placed in darkness. Darkness is unattractive. Light is very influential and attractive. Everybody will be friend to whoever has a lantern out of a group of people in darkness. Jesus compared us to SALT and LIGHT.
Just imagine, if all of us believers of Christ are strong and powerful Salt and Light Believers. Imagine if our Light is coming forth in its fullness and our Salt has its flavour and seasoning power to the fullest, then, we would have been doing what Elisha did to the bad situation of the city of Jericho, sweetening the bitter waters of the land. Lighting the darkest corners of our land.
A single man had commanded that there should be no rain in the land and the heavens had withdrawn rain, until the king of the land bowed at his feet. A single man of God had been thrown into lions’ den and brought out of it alive the next day and made the king to decree a national worship of the God of Daniel. They are Salt and Light Believers. But, in our offices, we curse, we abuse others like those in the darkness of the world. We cheat like them. We go out with men friends and attend parties among them. We join them to doctor financial figures and inflate contracts and still bring the tithes to the church to bribe God.
Many of our brethren, believers in politics would go with the heart to serve the Lord, but end up serving their god-fathers in politics and corrupting their own lives. Many believers who have gone there have not come back spiritually hale and healthy.
We are all shouting and clamouring for believers to occupy the positions of power in the nation, but a lot of them who have been favoured to go, have eventually turned their back against righteous living; they share booties and ungodly political spoils with their fellows; the mouths of many believers in the corridors of powers have been locked up and lips zipped up, unable to share the love of God or stand for the truth amidst their unrighteous colleagues. They come back home spiritually flattened and psychologically defeated. The Salt and Light had lost their powers of influence.
Just imagine, if all our Lights were shinning to its fullest and our Salt is operating in its fullest flavour, our Sisters would have a lot of influence on the student prostitutes on our campuses and our numerous campus fellowships would have brighten a lot of immoral darkness of our campuses. But instead, because of our flavourless Salt and Faded Lights, campus hooliganism is existing shoulder-to-shoulder with numerous campus fellowships. No Unity of the spirit. No spiritual co-operation.
Everyone raising up the flags of denominationalism.
IF THERE ARE MUCH DARKNESS ALL AROUND US DESPITE CONSISTENT INCREASE IN THE4 NUMBER OF CHURCHES, IT IS BECAUSE THERE ARE A LOT OF LAMPS WHOSE LIGHT HAVE GONE OUT, BECAUSE THE OIL IS DRIED. THE SMOULDERING WICKS ARE RELEASING EYE-BLINDING SMOKES.
If there are a lot of decay and rottenness all around us despite the noises of our Pentecostalism, it is because our Salt has lost its Flavour and its Seasoning Potency. We have too many Pente-rascal Noises instead of His glorious voices. We are puffed up and full of Egos and Pride, parading our names and flying our flags.
So, where do you belong? Is your light still bright or burning low. Is your Salt still full of its flavour or it has lost its sweetening and preservative potency? Are you His true disciple? Church membership apart. And ministry services apart. How Bright is your Light and how Strong is your Salt? If your neighbours or co-tenants do not feel your sweetness, gentle amiable characters of a child of God, check the potency of your Salt.
If your co-workers do not feel the Light around you, by your godly sweet attitude and humility and mouth full of words of grace; if your colleagues at work or office do not see you different from them in characters and influence, then check your Light. It might have gone out of the lamp.
– MIKE BAMILOYE
Aphorism CITY 