Are you salt and light?

Are you Salt and Light?
“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 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.” 
                           Matthew 5:13-16.
I’ve seen many over the years who claim to be Christians. Yet a quick look at their life shows them to be far from. They are merely copies of the world with Christian prefix.
Billy Graham said,
“Those outside the church expect followers of Christ to live differently, yet today many in church are chasing after the world - not to win them, but to be like them.”
                                                                                                         Billy Graham.
He also said,
“The men who followed Him(Jesus), were unique in their generation. They turned the world upside down because their hearts had been turned right side up. The world has never been the same.”
     Billy Graham.
We need to be like Christ. We need to live a life that attracts people to Christ.
All too many calling themselves Christians have a “holier than thou” attitude or are judging people because of their way of life or lifestyle. They are presenting the gospel message as a lot of do’s and do not’s. This should not be so.
The Pharisees of Jesus’ day put a lot of rules and regulations on the people to follow. Rules I’m sure they thought were intended for good, but were burdensome and turned people away from God.
God intends us to follow His commands but God never places harsh rules on us. Jesus said,
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.  
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  
For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” 
                                                         Matthew 11:28-30.
As Christians we should be living a life that shows love. Love for God. Love for our neighbour whoever they may be. Even Love for our enemy. That is the way God intended us to be toward others.
We need to live a good and honest life that reflects the love of God.
What is known as the prayer of St. Francis tells how Christians should be. It states,

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace, 

Where there is hatred, let me sow love;

where there is injury, pardon;

where there is doubt, faith;

where there is despair, hope;

where there is darkness, light;

where there is sadness, joy;

O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; 

to be understood as to understand; 

to be loved as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive; 

it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; 

and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. 

                                                                                                Francis of Assisi.
I know Francis was not an apostle but he from what I understand lived a good Christian life that reflected God.
This is the kind of life we should be living.
In order to be light and salt to this generation we need to be living a selfless life dedicated to God. Presenting the gospel not just in word but in deed.
We should never have to tell people we are Christians our life and lifestyle should do that.
Please think about it.

Two Masters

You can’t serve God and man

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.  
But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.  
For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. 
“The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light.  
But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness! 
“No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money”
                                                                                                    Matthew 6:19-24.
Let me make it clear from the outset being wealthy is not a sin. Having a lot of money earned honestly is not a sin. The Apostle Paul makes it clear
“For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.” 
                                                                       1 Timothy 6:10
Here in the above scriptures Matthew 6:19-24,  Jesus is talking about greed. Like is said, money and riches in themselves are not bad. The church needs wealthy people to help in the spread of the gospel.
It’s what you do with your money. Don’t hoard it for the sake of hoarding it.
There’s a very famous story of a miserly woman in the late eighteen hundreds. She had substantial wealth enough to pay doctors to help her sick son. Yet the son died because she didn’t want to pay out the money and was looking for a charity hospital to help him and save her money.
While this is an extreme case it is what Jesus is talking about.
Some people put their trust entirely in money. Proud they are self sufficient. Thus quite often they miss the blessings of God.
You can always tell where a persons heart is.
Over the years that I’ve been in church work I’ve met people that are earning an excellent base wage but work long hours of overtime to get the extra they want to buy a new toy, be it a $500 dollar cell phone, half million dollar house or a fancy car.
They work so much they can’t enjoy their toys.
While they claim to love God they are so absorbed in making money that they don’t have time to serve Him.
The Apostle Paul noted in his letter to Timothy,
“For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.” 
                                                                                           1 Timothy 6:10
 Jesus made it clear “No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money”
We all need money but my cousin use to say “you can’t go anywhere without it. But you can’t take it when you go.”
We all as Christians need to take a long hard look at were our treasure is. Is it hear on earth or is it in heaven?
Do we really need all the toys of this world?
Or could our time be better spent serving God even if it’s only in a small way.
Please think about it?

Easter Sunday

The Resurrection

“On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb.  
They found the stone rolled away from the tomb,  but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.  
While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them.  
In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead?  
He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee:  
‘The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’ ”  
Then they remembered his words. 
When they came back from the tomb, they told all these things to the Eleven and to all the others.  
It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the others with them who told this to the apostles.  
But they did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense.  
Peter, however, got up and ran to the tomb. Bending over, he saw the strips of linen lying by themselves, and he went away, wondering to himself what had happened.” 
                                                                                             Luke 24:1-12.
The resurrection of Jesus was an incredible moment in history. No other religious leader has ever risen corporally.
This was hard for the disciples of Jesus to believe when the women told them and they had spent three years under his teaching.
Jesus did indeed rise from the dead later on in Luke records in chapter 24:13-25, that Jesus appeared to two believers on the road to Emmaus who reported back to the Eleven disciples.
Later Luke records the following,
“While they were still talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” 
They were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost.  
He said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds?  
Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.” 
When he had said this, he showed them his hands and feet.  
And while they still did not believe it because of joy and amazement, he asked them, “Do you have anything here to eat?”  
They gave him a piece of broiled fish,  and he took it and ate it in their presence. 
He said to them, “This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.” 
Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures.  
He told them, “This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.  
You are witnesses of these things.  
I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.” 
                      Luke 24:36-49.
The Disciples seen and talked to Jesus, he ate some fish and he proved to them he was flesh and blood. That he had indeed risen from the dead.
To this point the disciples and others perhaps thought Jesus was a conquering Messiah that would lead them to victory over Roman oppression but Jesus was not a conquering Messiah. He was a suffering Messiah as he himself said,
“He told them, “This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.
You are witnesses of these things.”
This is the message true Christians are preaching throughout the world today. That Jesus died for the sins of each and every person.
C.S. Lewis wrote,
“He died not for men, but for each man. If each man had been the only man made, He would have done no less.” 
                           C.S. Lewis.
This is the message of Easter. That Christ died for the sins of each man and woman.
The call of Christ is the call of each man and woman to believe that Jesus is the one and only Son of God that by confessing our sins directly to him He will forgive them. That by accepting him into our hearts and lives we will receive eternal life.
To quote C.S. Lewis again,
“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.” 
                                                                                                       C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity.
So the choice comes down to you the reader. Do you believe Jesus is the Son of God the Saviour of the world or not?
Please think about it carefully.