How to Change the World

Scripture: Matthew 5:13-16

Song: Ye Are The Light Of The World

Salt seasons. Light illumines. Both have properties that bespeak influence. They are tokens of the individual Christian’s influence.

“You are the salt,” Jesus said. “You are the light,” He further explained. The influence of the individual Christian is the mechanism Jesus chose to influence the world. People look to politicians, to Congress, to civic organizations, to activist groups to make moral and ethical changes. Not so Jesus. He might have recommended those mechanisms. But He didn’t.

The gospel of the kingdom working in the hearts and lives of individual believers makes more difference in the scheme of world events than any other single factor. When the Lord wanted to change the world, He didn’t use political machinery and power to do so. In fact to show the vanity of such methods, He loosed Satan for a season to turn all world powers against His people.

What turned the world upside down was a fisherman who “findeth his brother,” and a tax-gatherer who left his post, and a zealot who put down his weapon to follow Jesus. Individuals who seasoned their speech and actions with kingdom righteousness and who shined their light before their neighbors is what made the difference then. It still does.

Jason Moore