SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/22/2020 8:40 AM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-1 “The
Plan: The Dominion of His Disciples”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matt.
5:13-16
Message of the verses: “13 "You are
the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made
salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out
and trampled under foot by men. 14 “You are the light of the world. A city set
on a hill cannot be hidden; 15 nor does anyone light a lamp and put it
under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the
house. 16 “Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your
good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.”
It
is God’s desire that the church influence the world so that those in the world
can see the truth of the gospel and come to a saving knowledge in Jesus Christ. Sadly the opposite seems to be true in the
church today as we live our lives in 2020.
John
MacArthur explains “In both verse 13 and 14 the pronoun you is emphatic. The
idea is ‘You are the only salt of the earth,’ and ‘You are the only light of
the world.’ The world’s corruption will
not be retarded and its darkness will not be illumined unless God’s people are
its salt and light. The very ones who
are despised by the world are persecuted by the world are the world’s only
hope.
The
‘you’ in both verses is also plural. It
is His whole body, the church, that is called to be the world’s salt and
light. Each grain of salt has its
limited influence, but it is only as the church collectively is scattered in
the world that change will come. One ray
of light will accomplish little, but when joined with other rays a great light
is created.”
In
his commentary John MacArthur tells the story about a magazine article that had
a series of pictures in it from the state of Kansas where a house is seen in
the middle of a very large wheat field.
In the house was a mother who had a missing small son who wandered out
into the wheat field. The mom and dad
looked but could not find the young boy who was too short to be seen in the
taller wheat field. The next day many of
their neighbors, along with the couple held hands and made their way through
the field finally finding the young boy who had died of exposure. The caption under the last picture read “God,
if only we had joined hands sooner.”
As
believers we know that the world is full of lost souls who cannot see their way
above the distractions and the barriers of the world, so they cannot find their
way to the Father’s house until Christians join together as salt and light and
sweep through the world in search of them.
As believers our work is not simply as individual grains of salt or as
individual rays of light but as the whole church of Jesus Christ.
In
our next SD, Lord willing we will begin by looking at the word “are.” After that we will begin to look at
sub-sections that go along with this main section.
Spiritual meaning for my life today: I did not realize that what Jesus was talking
about here was the church in action, but after seeing this it all makes sense
as being a part of a local church can give much more help than trying to do
things on my own.
My Steps of Faith for Today: As part of
my local church I want to be salt and light to the world.
6/22/2020 9:09 AM
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