Are you Salty?

A few weeks ago, my Pastor completed a teaching series about being a witness.  The title of his message was Melt my Heart.  He spoke of how when we reach out to others with the love of Christ that we can melt the hardness of their hearts and they are more receptive to the Good News because Love never fails! (1 Corinthians 13:8) One of my favorite things about the Holy Spirit is how He can give you a message within a message, and it confirms something He may have already spoken to your heart.   When my Pastor referenced the verses in Matthew 5:13-16 NLT:

“You are the salt of the earth. But what good is salt if it has lost its flavor? Can you make it salty again? It will be thrown out and trampled underfoot as worthless.You are the light of the world—like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden.  No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house.  In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father."

The Holy Spirit brought to my remembrance a teaching moment we had shared earlier in the year.  I live in Northeast Ohio and we have recently come through a very cold, long winter.  On this particular morning, while commuting to work in miserable driving conditions,  I was happy to see ahead of me, the blinking green and amber lights of an ODOT vehicle doing what they do at this time of year...salting the roadways.

It was at that moment, the Holy Spirit quickened to me, that salt is used on the roads because it MELTS ICE!!!! 

Ding, Ding, Ding...bells went off in my Spirit!
Could it be that is why we are called to be Salt and Light to this world?   That we are to melt the icy hearts of non-believers, so that they will be prepared to see the Good News that Jesus loves them and has redeemed them.

How do we as Believer's, melt the hearts of others?  The Word speaks to that as well, and it is so simple.  Romans 13:8-10 NLT tells us that we are to:

Owe nothing to anyone—except for your obligation to love one another. If you love your neighbor, you will fulfill the requirements of God’s law.  For the commandments say, “You must not commit adultery. You must not murder. You must not steal. You must not covet.” These—and other such commandments—are summed up in this one commandment: “Love your neighbor as yourself."

Love does no wrong to others, so love fulfills the requirements of God’s law.

It is a daily choice to choose to love people and to do no wrong to others. We have to choose to look past all the negativity and bitterness.  We have to choose to love them in spite of themselves.  And we can do this; because this was what Christ did for us...We love because He first loved us. 1 John 4:19 NLT