Kathy and Brian Emmet

“You are the salt of the earth … the light of the world” (Matthew 5:13, 14).
 
Jesus spoke of “the kingdom of God” a lot.  And unlike the kingdoms we’re familiar with, God’s kingdom doesn’t work by armies and force; it works, Jesus says, like salt and light. 
 
Jesus’ very first public words in the New Testament are the kingdom proclamation, “Repent for the kingdom of God is at hand.  The Beatitudes we looked at recently are framed by a kingdom promise, “for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”  Many of his parables are about the kingdom of God. 
 
And we should remember that “Christ” is not Jesus’ ”last name”, it’s his title: Christ, the Greek word for the Hebrew Messiah, means God’s anointed King.  Where King Jesus is welcomed, listened to and obeyed, that’s where the kingdom of God is happening, right here, right now!
 
But it happens like salt and light.
 
What could be more ordinary and everyday than salt?  What do we take for granted more than light?  Salt and light seem like strange ways to bring about a kingdom. 
 
Stranger still, Jesus says that we are the salt, we are the light.  We who are seeking to listen to Jesus, seeking to follow Jesus, seeking to learn how to represent our King in and to the world.
 
There is such good news in this.  We don’t have to be spectacular, famous, powerful or in uniquely privileged positions to be kingdom salt and light.  We can simply be everyday us, as ordinary as salt, as commonplace as light –
 
But we’re not just ordinary and commonplace.  Those who listen closely to King Jesus, and put into practice what he says, become agents of the only kingdom there really ever is or will be: the kingdom of God.
 
To be salt and light of the kingdom of God – that’s a pretty high calling!
 
As we head into 2020, what “kings” currently “rule” in your heart and life?  What might it look like for you to welcome Jesus as the real king?
 
Pick one place or situation you are in regularly: home and family, neighborhood, workplace or school, etc.  What is one way you could function as kingdom salt or light?