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We as Christians have the ability to influence and transform the world around us.  This is what Jesus was telling us in Matthew 5:13-16

“You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men.

“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.

Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.

In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.”

We have the ability to influence the world around us because salt by its very nature influences everything it touches.  Salt always makes a difference. Even if we never get to see the difference being made.  Light also makes a difference, but its effects go deeper.

We are able to be salt in the world by living out our faith for people to see.  Letting the world around us see by our lives that there is a better way.  We are being light when we are helping people connect the dots between who we are, and what God is doing in us.  Being light involves us sharing God’s goodness with the world around us.  Using things like our testimony to direct people’s view from our character to God who is the reason for the hope that we have.  Jesus said “In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.”

Our task in the world is to live our faith for the world to see – Salt, and to help people connect the dots so that they can make the connection between our lives and our Father in heaven.  Let people see our good deeds so that they can give glory, or honor and credit, to God in heaven.  Our lives are a testimony of God’s goodness, and we simply need to help people come to understand this testimony.  And we are able to do this,  whether we feel we are able to or not.

God knows we are able to do this because He has strategically placed us where we are to be able to have the greatest impact.  The Greek word for “Set” is ‘Keimai’ which involves divine appointment and strategic planning.  Now not many of us feel like we are strategic.  We most often feel that our lives are random, or the product of our circumstances.  But God sees us like a city on a hill.  The city wasn’t just dropped down anywhere.  It was place where it would be visible, and often made of white limestone which would reflect the sun during the day, and the torch light of the city at night, making it visible from a distance both day and night.  He knows that we don’t place a light any old place.  We place it where it will illuminate the largest area, giving light to the most people.  God sees us as strategically placed in our situations and relationships, and knows that we are able to transform the world around us.

God knows that Salt always makes a difference, and people are in darkness are drawn towards light, even the smallest one.  We can influence and transform our world.  All we have to be is Salt and Light.

Anne Rice leaves Christianity

Legendary author Anne Rice has announced that she’s quitting Christianity.

The “Interview with a Vampire” author, who wrote a book about her spirituality titled “Called Out of Darkness: A Spiritual Confession” in 2008, said Wednesday that she refuses to be “anti-gay,” “anti-feminist,” “anti-science” and “anti-Democrat.”

Rice wrote, “For those who care, and I understand if you don’t: Today I quit being a Christian … It’s simply impossible for me to ‘belong’ to this quarrelsome, hostile, disputatious, and deservedly infamous group. For ten years, I’ve tried. I’ve failed. I’m an outsider. My conscience will allow nothing else.”

Rice then added another post explaining her decision on Thursday:

“My faith in Christ is central to my life. My conversion from a pessimistic atheist lost in a world I didn’t understand, to an optimistic believer in a universe created and sustained by a loving God is crucial to me,” Rice wrote. “But following Christ does not mean following His followers. Christ is infinitely more important than Christianity and always will be, no matter what Christianity is, has been or might become.”

So my question is Can you give up on ‘Christianity’ and still be a follower of Christ?

Many of us have relationships with people around us.  These relationships take on many  forms, and many degrees of sharing and levels of intimacy.  There are things we only share with our wives that we don’t share with our co-workers for instance.  And lately I have been thinking about relationships and what they offer to us.  I don’t know about you but I have been one who spent little time  working on relationships, and a lot of time on my to-do list.

Most of us men at least seem to be task motivated.  At least the ones I have met and talked with.  And some women are as well.  Others seem to focus their lives on the relationships they are building as they go about their tasks.  This is something women seem to do naturally.  At least more naturally then men.  But we all need to have relationships.  God said “It is not good for man to be alone.” in Genesis in the bible.  And it applies to women as well.  Loneliness is a burden that is extremely difficult to carry, and one that drives many to suicide.

We need each other.  We need each other to grow.  We need each other to develop our character.  We need each other to change.  We need each other to lighten the load we all carry each day.  We were all built for relationship.  It is the reason we were created.  God designed  us  for relationship.  If we avoid them we do so to our own detriment.  I know I have in the past.  Life can hit us pretty hard at times, and if those hits are coming mostly from people we should be able to trust we can tend to have a bleak view of relationships in general.  But it is something we can overcome.  I know I am growing further away from it each day.  But I have surrounded myself with people who genuinely care about me, and have no need whatsoever to change me.  It is how I came to be who I am today.

We are empowered by the relationships we have.  As long as they are healthy that is.  Because relationships can destroy as well.  But with good relationships we become more that we could ever be on our own.  We can stand taller, and climb to greater heights  and see broader vistas than we can ever hope to alone.  Having people behind us who can encourage us through the difficulties, and challenge us to not accept the status quo in our lives, and speak into the blind spots in our lives and character enables and empowers us to go beyond ourselves.  There is a saying ‘Behind every great man is a great woman.’  And it is true.  I’m not saying I am a great man, but I married a great woman who is supporting and challenging  me.  And as I continue to develop and grow personally, I know it will only be with her support and wisdom, and the other relationships I have around me, the most important one being with Jesus, I will become, to borrow a slogan, ‘All I can be.’