By Chris WittsMonday 20 May 2024Morning Devotions with Chris WittsFaithReading Time: 1 minute
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Transcript:
Can you think of people who’ve had a big influence in your life? Maybe it was your primary school teacher who took a special interest in you, encouraged and helped you. In those early years, A teacher spends many hours with us just like a second parent, and they help mould and shape a child’s personality. And sometimes they push you to do better. We don’t forget those people. Usually a bad teacher, on the other hand, is also memorable. But for different reasons.
There’s no doubt that we also have an influence on others. By the way we talk and act, people are watching us. Plus every day we’re being influenced by the mass media. What we see on television and on social media. The companies want us to purchase their products or to visit their business through advertising junk mail. Radio companies spend big money on advertising because they know it works. Jesus, the teacher gives a great lesson about the influence we have.
We can read about it in Matthew, Chapter five and Jesus was saying you beloved are the salt of the earth, but if salt becomes bland and loses its saltiness, can anything make it salty again? No, it’s useless. It’s tossed out, thrown away or trampled on. Back in Jesus day, salt was a preservative. Of course, they had no refrigerators back then, as soon as you killed an animal, a cow or a sheep, the meat began to deteriorate, especially in that climate, so that within hours it was borderline whether it was safe to eat or not. But they found that if you rubbed salt into the meat or into the fish, you could slow down the decay process enough, and then the food would be good enough to eat much later.
And so, in this way, they learn to preserve food. You can see here how valuable salt was. The Roman soldiers were sometimes paid in salt, which is the origin actually of the word salary. If they ever wanted to eat meat, they had to eat salted meat. Or they had to slaughter the animal and eat it right away. Today, of course, things are much different. We may put the salt on our dinner table.
I don’t enjoy McDonald’s chips without salt. I ask for that little packet of salt. I do that because it doesn’t taste the same. Salt is a flavour enhancer. It brings out the flavour of the fries and whatever else is in that chip. Jesus was bringing a lesson here. As a Christian, you are to bring flavour to the world around you. You can make a big difference in the influence you make every day, the way you speak and act even in the way you think. Jesus Christ wants our lives to enhance the experience of others around us in the same way that salt enhances a meal today. Ask yourself the question. How do people feel after they talk to me? Better yet, how have you enriched their lives when they leave your presence?
Now I understand this doesn’t happen all the time, but it should happen more than not. And the apostle Paul said to the colossian Christians, let your conversation be always full of grace seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone. That’s in Colossians 4:6. It was Mother Teresa who reminded us where to find the strength to take up the challenge, to have a good influence, and this is what she said,
Give yourself fully to God. He will use you to accomplish great things on the condition that you believe much more in his love than in your own weakness. Without God’s help, we could easily fail in this area of life, and I think that we can be carriers of God’s light and love. And his character, Irwin McManus, says, A life that’s touched by God always ends in touching others.
You see, we were created to be people of influence for good.
Let’s Pray
Heavenly father. I think just now of that word influence. What sort of influence am I having on my family, my Children, my neighbours, my friends, those who look at me and say, what is it about him? Dear God, we are certainly in need of your wisdom and your grace. As we struggle with issues, Lord and with people, I pray you’ll give us patience and understanding, to be kind to others and in so doing demonstrate the love of God to these people. I pray in the name of Jesus, amen.