Thread by @glprater

#GeraldsDevotional
Salt of the Earth - Light of the World - City on a Hill
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This is the theme that our Lord Jesus Christ placed so very heavily on my heart as He awoke me early this morning. In light of recent things that He has brought before my spiritual eyes (indeed things that we have all seen with increasing intensity over the past 3 years), it was

not difficult for me to hear this theme and to understand what He wanted me to share about it.

When He was here with us, this is the key theme that Jesus shared with His disciples throughout all of His 3-1/2 year ministry with them. Two days ago we read in John 17 where He

prayed for them and for all of us who would eventually believe in Him. Jesus did not pray for the fallen world system or that we would be taken out of the world. No, He said that we have been chosen by our Father to be here in the world (I believe for a

time just such as this – as in Esther 4:14). And He placed us here to be agents of change and to make a difference (hold on to this thought).

During His earthly ministry, Jesus repeatedly told His disciples (and us) that the world would hate and attack them because it hated Him

first. It is not us that the world hates, but it is in fact the unmistakable glory of the Lord that the world sees in us that it hates. It is His truth, His justice, and His righteousness as seen unashamedly in our words and deeds that the world hates.

At the beginning of the book of James chapter 1, he encouraged us that we should actually rejoice when we are attacked because of our faith and what we believe about the Lord. Our faith represents a very serious threat to the plan of the enemy and he will lash out viciously to

get us to not make a difference or to be quiet. In the spirit of Romans 8:28, he says that these attacks on our faith only serve to make us stronger.

But in chapter 2, James says that it is not enough just to believe (faith without works is dead – 2:14). If our words and deeds

do not give evidence that we believe that the Lord is always with us regardless of what the world says or does, then that is not faith at all.

So after laying there in bed for quite some time pondering on that 3-part theme that He gave me when He woke me up, I sat up and looked

it up in the bible and found them all together near the beginning of His famous Sermon on the Mount as He began His public ministry before the people. Just as He prayed at the end in John 17, He is telling us in this sermon that we have all been called here and chosen by our

Father to be agents of change in a world that desperately needs to be changed. Just as Jesus was, we are here today on a mission of rescue. And just as it was with Jesus, our motivation is one of love for God, for our brothers and sisters, and for the lost (victims of Satan) in

this world. If we didn’t love them, we wouldn’t care about them or want to show them the serious dangers of death and harm in this world. In spite of that of which the world accuses us, we speak out and respond based on a motivation of the love and the heart of God.

To remain silent or indifferent would not only be ungodly, it would be the ultimate form of hatred and evil… knowing that you have the remedy or the cure for a deadly disease but then purposely withholding it from the people. That is not what we are called to do.

So now let’s read those famous words from the beginning where Jesus called us to be agents of change in a dark and evil world. They are found in Matthew 5 beginning at verse 13.

Believers Are Salt and Light
13 “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men.

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

hidden. 15 Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. 16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven. - Matthew 5:13-16
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