Salt, Light, and Chicken Noodle Soup 

One thing that really bothers me is misleading packaging.  Let me explain.  I really, really like to eat.  And since this is one of my favorite past times, there are two things that I have to be aware of:  first, is the calorie count and second, is the price.  Afterall, gaining weight and wasting money are not priorities on my ThingsTo Do list.  So today in my commitment to staying fit and frugal, I decided to eat a can of light chicken noodle soup for lunch.  I opened the can and turned it upside down over the pot.  When I saw what came out into the pot, I turned the can back upside down, banged the bottom and shook it a bit.  I couldn’t believe they expected me to be satisfied with that!  Yeah it was light soup alright, that’s because it was less soup.  Just give me a smaller can, at least then I’ll know what to expect.

Personally, I think God feels like this at times too.  He looks at us in our grand Christian packaging, promising to be the salt of the earth without the drama of the world, and He gets excited.  Then when He goes to pour us out on the rest of the world, we lack substance.  We are believers, but we are much less than He called us to be.  Well I’ve decided I want to be more.  I want to be steak and potatoes not a pitiful can of light soup. 

So how do we beef up?  The bible says we should offer our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God (Romans 12:1).  Reading further we find out that we become holy by renewing our mind, and we become acceptable by discerning and acting upon the will of God.  Many people get stumped right there.  To them the will of God seems as vast and tortuous as the wilderness the Isrealites wandered in for forty years.  If you find yourself in this group, I have some good news for you.  The Lord wants us to know His will.  Isaiah 30:21 tells us, “Thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, this is the way, walk ye in it…”  Our sovereign God will tell us what He wants us to do, but that’s only after we have a relationship with Him, and we get that relationship by studying His Word.  God’s word sustains us.  While being tempted in the wilderness, Jesus told the devil, “Man does not live on bread alone, but every word from the mouth of God (Mat. 4:4).”  The bible reminds us that Jesus is the author and finisher of our faith and that He that started a good work in us shall complete it (Heb. 12:2, Phi. 1:6).  So knowing all of this, how do we beef up?  By gaining strength, power, and substance through the Word of God.  Only then will we be salt enough to fill and flavor the whole world. 

For more information on knowing the will of God check out What Is the Will of God and How Do We Know It? – Desiring God,  Discovering God’s Will, and Knowing God’s Will-Matter of the Heart.

In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. There came a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness, to testify about the Light, so that all might believe through him.
-John 1:4-7

In Christ was life. He is the source and giver of all life. Nothing that is in existence would be in existence without Him, for all things were created through Him. Christ did not receive or inherit life, but has always had life and is the provider and possessor of all life. Regarding “and the life was the Light of men,” John Gill writes:

“…all his elect are dead in trespasses and sins, and cannot quicken themselves. Christ has procured life for them, and gives it to them, and implants it in them; a life of sanctification is from him; and a life of justification is upon him, and of faith is by him; all the comforts of a spiritual life, and all things appertaining to it, are from him, and he maintains, and preserves it.”
-John Gill

The light shines in the darkness. The better translation would be “the darkness did not overcomethe” Light. In this context, darkness represents anything that sets itself against the One who gives all life. Darkness is the opposite of light. But just as when a candle is set ablaze in a pitch black cave, so the Light, the Christ, cannot be overcome by darkness.

A man was sent from God, John the baptist. God fulfilled His purposes through this man. He was saved through God’s grace and filled with the Holy Spirit while yet in his mother’s womb (Luke 1:15). It is said that he came to testify about the Light, so that all men might might see the life that the Light brings into a world infested with darkness.

Christ is the one who overcomes the darkness. Thus as Christians we are called to be as John, testifiers of the Light. The Gospel is the Light that overcomes the darkness. As Christians filled with the Spirit we possess the only message that brings life and extinguishes the darkness. How ignorant we are when we put a lampshade over the Light and ashamedly mumble the one message that brings hope and light to the world.