This year the focus in our 4-min devotions is on the teaching given by Jesus in his Sermon on the Mount found in Matthew chapters 5 – 7.

After the short “Blessed are…” phrases at the beginning of the sermon, often called the Beatitudes, Jesus said:

“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 underfoot. (Matthew 5:13)

In the Old Testament, Job asked the question. “Can flavourless food be eaten without salt?”[1]. The answer, of course, is yes, but it would taste a lot better with salt and other seasonings. In New Testament days, salt was a preservative (keeping meat fresh before the days of coolers or fridges) and a condiment, adding to the flavour of a meal.

As many commentators note, Christians have the call and authority to bring God’s life to those around them and we have the power to bring positive change to our communities. To be a preservative of the faith and to add the flavour of God to a lost world. Writer, Ken Mongomery says that we, as the salt of the earth, “participate in the flavour of the redemptive kingdom of heaven”[2].

In other words, by being salt in this world we give people a taste of Heaven. By sharing God’s love and truth to those in our schools and streets, workplaces, and neighbourhoods, we crack open the door for the lost to glimpse a view of the eternal Father who is offering His love to them. Our saltiness has the ability to reveal a new world accessible to all: God’s powerful story of love, sacrifice and redemption.

Perhaps a good question to ask today is: “what do I need to do to be salt (that is, the life and flavour of God) to people in my street, my study group, my family, my workplace, my community?”

Jesus warned of salt losing its saltiness. Salt mixed with other substances might become diluted. Thrown on an icy road, it will be less effective or less noticeable in a bowl of soup.

Our lives, once purified by the saving power of faith in Jesus and his sacrifice on the cross, may become less effective on the world around us if mixed with the values we were once rescued from. A lack of purity makes us bland and tasteless.

No wonder it would be “thrown out and trampled underfoot”. The last thing the world needs is Christians who claim to be followers of Jesus (that is, salt – preservers of the faith, spreading the life, truth and love of God), but who mix their lives with compromise. They would rightly be rejected – thrown out – by those searching for truth. Those looking for faith are looking for something that is real and pure. Faith that is salty.

[1] Job 6: 6 NJKV

[2] From Themelios Theological Journal, https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/themelios/about/

“Above all else, guard your heart,

for everything you do flows from it.” Proverbs 4:23

God loves a pure heart. When King David was chosen (way back in the Old Testament) to be King of Israel it was because God saw his heart. We read, “the LORD has sought out a man after his own heart” (1 Sam 13:14). Even after some terrible mistakes, years later, his prayer to the Lord was still “Create in me a pure heart, O God,” (Ps 51:10). God saw a pure heart at the beginning of his call and David was still depending on God for purity of heart years later.

In Jesus’ day, what’s important to God has not changed: The next beatitude in our Sermon on the Mount series is, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God” (Matt 5:8).

Let’s think what it might mean to guard your heart, as we read in Proverbs 4: 23.

Our hearts, in terms of who we are, (that is, our emotions, thoughts, feelings, innermost secrets, desires, who we are deep down) are precious. They are made by God, but they are tainted by sin. Having said that, they are also being transformed by faith in Christ and the ongoing work of the Holy Spirit.

But that makes them vulnerable. Look at these verses in the book of Proverbs:

· “Anxiety weighs down the heart,

but a kind word cheers it up” (Prov 12: 25).

· “Hope deferred makes the heart sick,

but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life” (Prov 13: 12).

· “Even in laughter the heart may ache,

and rejoicing may end in grief” (Prov 14: 13)

Anxiety. Hopes deferred. Heartache. Grief.

When anxiety gets in, it’s like a heaviness, weighing down, poisoning our joy, stealing our peace. When hopes are dashed or delayed, it can feel like the energy drain of a fever. And what can be worse than being in a room with others who are enjoying life, but have no idea of the pain you are in?

When the stuff of life happens, if we are not careful, we give permission to harmful emotions to enter and take up residence in our hearts – anxiety, disappointment, discouragement, anger, pain… and so on.

The author of Proverbs pleads with us to guard our hearts. The old NIV says, “Above all else, guard your heart for it is the wellspring of life”. I am to guard my heart because it is the wellspring of life. That is, a source of new living water. A source of God’s life. A pure heart, one guarded against negative emotions and sin, can be a source of God’s love and life to those around us.

Jesus promised that those with pure hearts are blessed because they will see God. Perhaps a clean and protected heart will see God moving in ways far beyond our natural abilities to do good. The pure in heart will see God in ways we cannot even imagine.

Psalm 42: 1 – 5, says this:

1 As the deer pants for streams of water,

so my soul pants for you, my God.

2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.

When can I go and meet with God?

3 My tears have been my food

day and night,

while people say to me all day long,

“Where is your God?”

4 These things I remember

as I pour out my soul:

how I used to go to the house of God

under the protection of the Mighty One

with shouts of joy and praise

among the festive throng.

5 Why, my soul, are you downcast?

Why so disturbed within me?

Put your hope in God,

for I will yet praise him,

my Savior and my God (Psalms 42:1-5)

When you look at the world, what do you see? When you watch TV or catch a video on your phone; when you scroll through Facebook or Instagram, what kind of things stand out for you?

For some, it might be a hope that others have ‘liked’ something you posted yesterday. For others, the latest trivia might grab your attention. Or a cute photograph. Perhaps a feel-good story.

For those who are compelled to stay in touch with national and international events, it is rarely good news that makes the headlines. Another conflict in another country. Another scandal.

I wonder, do you ever try to look with spiritual eyes? Do you ask yourself “I wonder how God sees all this”? And therefore, “How may I view the world with His heart – with a heart of righteousness”?

Jesus said, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled” (Matt 5: 6). In other words, blessed are those who want to see things from God’s perspective, Blessed are those who want righteousness to reign.

The writer of Psalm 42 has been living in troubled times, and he remembers better days (v 4). He knows God is the only one who can change things. Like a deer desperate for water on a hot, dry day, the psalmist is thirsty for God’s presence. For God and His righteousness to come.

How might we reflect that desperation today? Perhaps it starts in our prayer life. Pray for salvations to occur; pray for God’s love, help and peace to reach those who need Him. Pray for God intervene in events we see on the news. Pray for God to reign in your workplace, in your street, in your town, in your city, in all the dark places.

Those who hunger and thirst will be filled. What will they be filled with? Some suggest a deeper relationship with God and a transformed heart. But perhaps they will also experience the satisfaction of seeing God turning things around in ways we can’t even imagine.

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.”