Connect In: Christ-like Influence
Jim Boyd, Director | Support Services
In verses 1-9, we are to be poor in spirit, mournful and
meek, thirsting for righteousness, merciful, pure at heart, and peacemakers.
Versus 10-12 are transitional; the world will hate and persecute us.
But even through the persecution, Christ says we are still to
go out and be The Salt and The Light. These pronouns are emphatic. We are the
only salt to influence a decaying world. We are the only lights to reflect the
light of The Son on a dark world.
President Woodrow Wilson told this story. He said, “I was in
a very common place. I was sitting in a barber chair when I became aware that a
personality had entered the room. A man had come quietly in upon the same
errand as myself, to have his hair cut, and sat in the chair next to me. Every
word the man uttered, though it was not in the least didactic, showed a
personal interest in the man who was serving him. And before I got through with
what was being done for me, I was aware that I had attended an evangelistic
service, because Mr. D.L. Moody was in that chair.” He goes on to say, “I
purposely lingered in the room after he had left and noted the singular effect
that his visit had brought upon the barber shop. They talked in undertones.
They didn’t know his name, but they knew that something had elevated their
thoughts. And I felt that I left the place as I should have left the place of
worship.”
TWEETABLE QUOTE: Our influence should be the preserving salt and reflecting
light of Christ. #RareElements
