True Salt and Light Are Pure

"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. You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house." Matt. 5:13-15

With great responsibility, there is often great danger. We can't be an influence for purity in the world if we have compromised our own purity. We can't sting the world's conscience if we continually go against our own. We can't be used of God to retard the corruption of sin in the world if our lives become corrupted by sin. To lose our saltiness is not to lose our salvation, but we will lose our effectiveness.

Light, too, is in danger of becoming useless. Like salt, it can't lose it's essential nature. A hidden light is still light, but it is useless light. That's why people do not "Light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lamp-stand, and it gives light to all who are in the house." A light that is hidden under a basket can't even be used to read by; it helps neither the person who hides it nor anyone else.

Don't hide your light for fear of offending others, whether out of indifference or lovelessness or any other reason. If you do, you demonstrate unfaithfulness to the Lord.

(Daily Readings from the Life of Christ)

Time To Choose

Many men today are finding it necessary to work more than one job. The economic demands placed on a family are great, and the larger the family, the greater the demands.

Otis Jones is a pastor, his wife works outside the home, and together they run a small wholesale distributorship. Frank Morgan is a physician, but he also owns several apartment houses that he manages and where he serves as the primary maintenance person. Frank Adams is a social worker, his wife teaches and he is part-owner and manager of the local movie theater and a recycling center.

These men are bright, ambitious, and successful, but to give their families some "extras", they work several jobs. These men are also finding that some days they are so tired that neither job goes well. They are finding less time and less of themselves to give to their families. They are also finding less joy in life for themselves, even as they are providing more for their families. "More" is quickly becoming "less" for them.

Jesus had seen this happen in the lives of men who tried to serve two masters. Soon they would love one and hate the other or be devoted to one and despise the other because they felt emotionally and physically torn. Jesus clearly stated that is was impossible to serve two masters, especially when one is God and the other is money. Either both will be cheated out of the best the person can offer, or he will "shut down" from the stress and pressure of what he is trying to do.

Matthew 6:24 is still true. At some point, you must choose to be either a man of God or a man of the world. You must choose between the gifts of God and the trinkets of the world, the eternal and the temporal. The choice is yours. What will you decide?

(God's Man)

Ministers to One Another

"Let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works" Heb. 10:24

God wants His children to minister His good to one another. Paul the apostle, as he opened his letter to the Roman believers, assured them that he was eager to visit them not only to minister to them, but to be ministered by them. ".......that I may be encouraged together with you by mutual faith both of you and me" (Rom. 1:12). Before that, he had described Timothy and himself to the Corinthians as "fellow workers for your joy" (2 Cor. 1:24).

If you're truly a follower of Christ, it should be both an obligation and a joy for you to encourage other believers toward love and good works, as today's verse instructs....."Let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works" Heb. 10:24.

(Truth For Today)