Thought for July 30

 History:

• 1419: Following the execution of Jan Hus, reformer, his followers storm Prague Town Hall and throw the judge, mayor and council members out the window to their deaths
• 1729: Baltimore founded
• 1928: George Eastman shows first color motion pictures at his home in NY
• 1930: First broadcast of Death Valley Days
• 1935: First Penguin Book published
• 1942: WAVES created
• 1942: German SS kills 25,000 Jews in Minsk
• 1945: USS Indianapolis sunk by German U-Boat
• 1956: US Motto "In God We Trust" adopted
• 1975: Jimmy Hoffa disappears
• 1990: First Saturn auto completed
• 2003: Last "old style" VW Beetle completed in Mexico
• 2021: 1 of every 100 Americans employed by Walmart and 1 of 169 employed by Amazon
• Born: Emily Bronte, Henry Ford, Casey Stengel, Henry Bloch [H&R Block], Edd Byrnes [77 Sunset Strip], Peter Bogdanovich, Paul Anka, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Anita Hill [Clarence Thomas], Delta Burke, Laurence Fishburne, Reggie Roby [punter for the Niners who wore his watch while punting], Lisa Kudrow, Vivica A Fox, Hilary Swank, Justin Rose, Hope Solo, Ovid B. Thrailkill
• Died: William Penn, Otto Von Bismarck, George Pickett [Pickett's Charge], Claudette Colbert, Buffalo Bob Smith [Howdy Doody], Sam Phillips [Sun Records]

Thought:

Reading Matthew 5:13-16 this morning. Because we are blessed [as presented in the beatitudes], Jesus gives two commands---be salty and don't hide. The concepts are related. You are different from the world--salt is distinctive, you can tell when it is present. Light is observable unless it is hidden. You are light and salt so the world should be able to tell a difference in you---don't lose the saltiness and don't hide the light. 

Mark 9:50 says "Have salt in yourselves." Luke 14:34 says "salt is good, but even salt has become tasteless with what will it be seasoned? It is useless." Salt was important in Jesus' day. It was used for healing wounds, preserving foods, and purifying. So when we are called the salt of the earth, the idea is that we will bring these important attributes to the world. We bring healing by introducing Christ to broken lives. We bring healing by forgiving. We bring healing by seeking peace and being instruments of God's peace. We introduce purity into a corrupt world. We purify situations through the power of the Spirit. We preserve lives, marriages, relationships, nations by presenting Christ as the only hope and only answer. We have a distinctive about our lives---we face trials and tribulations differently, we respond to persecution and slander differently, we love differently, we have hope even in hopeless circumstances. 

But if we lose our differences and become just like the world, we are useless to the kingdom. Keep salty.

If we are in Christ and He is in us, we are light, we walk in the light. So the command is let your little light shine. 

• John 8:12--Jesus is the light of the world. Those that follow Him shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.
• Ephesians 8:12: You are light in the Lord; walk as children of the light.
• Luke 8:16--No one lights a light and then covers it, rather put it on a lamp stand so those who come in can see the light.

Now we are to bring light to every situation, but the world does not want every situation lighted. John 3:19-21 reminds us that light came into the world, but men loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. So the world will try and avoid your light and put out your light. Jesus says, let your light shine--the world needs light.

Today, how do you taste--salty? How are your batteries? Is the lens clean on your light? The world needs salt and light. 

Blessings

Larry