Salt and Light

Day 5

OT Reading: Genesis 12 - 14

NT Reading: Matthew 5:1-26

You are the salt of the earth. But if salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men. You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.

Matthew 5:13-16, NIV

Growing up in Sunday School we sang, "This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine..." But as I've grown I've found that concept easier to sing and talk about than actually do. Based on nothing but my own personal experience, evangelism in general is an idea that strikes fear into the hearts of many Christians. The idea seems to be that if we're not constantly turing a conversation back to Jesus (I know we were talking about the new overtime rule, but let me ask you, when your time is over do you know where you'll spend eternity?), or if we're not able to answer all the questions someone has...we feel as though we're somehow failing at this.

But then a few years ago I learned something about evangelism in a rather unlikely place. The lesson didn't come in a class or through a book...I'd been through those...I learned about evangelism through...my job. And I don't mean my "I work in a church" job. I mean my "I work for a secular company doing work like any other person" job. It may seem weird, but I learned more about evangelism in my secular job than I ever did from books, Bible College or Graduate School.

You see, from the moment I was hired, everyone knew I was an ordained minister...so my cover was blown before I began. But as I settled into the tasks related to the job itself, I began to see that I didn't need to be "that minister guy who for some reason is working here..." I just needed to be me...an imperfect guy trying to follow Jesus a little more every day. And over the course of the next 18 months a lot of relationships were built, some of them pretty close. During my time there, a LOT of conversations happened...most of them not directly spiritual. But occasionally someone would ask to sit down and talk about something that really mattered. When people began to see me as Mark, and not the aforementioned "minister here for some odd reason" a lot of doors began to open up to truly having serious conversations.

Please understand, not once was did someone fall down at my desk and say, "What must I do to be saved?" And looking back I know I didn't take advantage of every opportunity that came my way...frankly if anything there were too many times that I "put my lamp under a bowl". But one thing I can say, if I had not spent a good bit of time there, I would have little idea of what it means to be salt and light.