Being Light & Salt

The prophet Isaiah summons Israel thus:

Arise, shine, your light has come,
and the glory of the Lord rests upon you ...
nations will come to your light
and kings to the brightness of your dawn. (Isaiah 60:1,3)

Speaking of the Messianic age, Isaiah says:

The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light;
those who dwell in a land of deep darkness,
on them the light has shined. (Isaiah 9:2)

I don't believe that we are in the Messianic Age yet, but when it comes the splendor of the Lord will abound. Yet, even now the glory of the Lord shines amongst Christians:

You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hid... Let your light so shine before men,that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. (Matthew 5:13-16)

Other parts or Scripture exhort us to "be in the world, but not of it." Yes, in a sense we are a "city on a hill," as the verse says. However, Christians today act as if the city were a mountain upon which they must sit at its top reaching towards heaven. They remove themselves from the world as much as possible. As the old adage says "They are so heavenly minded that they aren't any earthly good."

Strange as it may sound, we are to be "in" the world. We are not to be "of" the world, but we are called to be "in" the world. How can we be in the world if we don't know what is going on around us? I know many times that I have felt guilty for not keeping up with politics or the news. Do I understand the world views around me? Do I know what issues plague young people the most today? Do I pray for the persecuted church in China?

Now granted we do need to be careful not to spend all of our time merely observing the world, for then we would start becoming "of" the world. We need to be transformed by the power of the Word, and constantly be renewing our minds. This will give us the power to be the salt to a world of decaying souls. This will allow us to flavor the world with the Gospel of Christ. This will allow us to be a city on a hill that is not hidden.

Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. (Romans 12:2)