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PATTERNS FOR LIFE:
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We Have a Duty to the World
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by Dennis White
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Nairobi Pentecostal Church, Kenya
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Read: Matthew 5: 13-16
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The world manifests a constant tendency to deteriorate. Christ's words,
"You are the salt of the earth," mean that the Church is to exert a wholesome
influence on the world; for if left to itself, it would decay like rotten
fish or meat. Only the presence of the Church can hinder this decay. We,
the Church, are in this world but not of this world. We are here to exert
a negative and a positive influence.
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Like salt, we are to prevent decay, not by remaining snugly in elegant
little ecclesiastical salt shakers, but by being rubbed into the secular
community, as salt is rubbed into meat, to stop it from going bad. And
this is only possible by our presence, our words and our deeds, our social
commitment.
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Like light, we are toillumine
the darkness by our evangelistic witness. We are to be vocal and visible,
and to share Jesus, the source of light and the sun of righteousness, with
those in darkness. A community of Jesus which seeks to hide itself has
ceased to follow Him.
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The effectiveness of salt and light is conditional. Salt must retain its
saltiness and light must not be hidden. Dr. John Stott says, "The Christian
must not become assimilated to non-Christians and contaminated by the impurities
of the world, for the influence of Christians in and on society depends
on their being distinct, not identical."
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How are you described by your patients and colleagues? Are you shining?
Or have your lost your saltiness and is your light dimmed? Remember, you
owe the world something.
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From "Patterns for Life," a daily devotional for health
professionals.
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Copyright 1996, MAP International, Africa (used with permission)
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