“Do not be discouraged when you falter. Exceptional lives are not exempt from sin. You will get dirty. You will get muddy. Your reputation will be tainted. Your bank account will be threatened. But your light will shine throughout all eternity. Be the salt of the earth.”

“While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” John 9:5

Christ commands his saints to be salty. He has equipped us with himself, the ability to change the state of anyone we encounter and anywhere we go. What do you need to add a salty flavor to a meal? You take a packet of maize flour and sprinkle a little over your plate, right? Wrong. What you do is take a box of baking powder and sprinkle a pinch on your food, right? Wrong again.

You see, you may look like salt, weigh like salt, smell like salt, but if you don’t taste like salt, then nobody will care to use you.  God won’t. It’s the taste that makes the difference. Jesus commands us to be the light and salt of the earth (Matt. 5:13-16). That means that if you have Christ in your heart and you are not dead, then you are salty. The food doesn’t add flavor to the salt; we are called to do the reverse. To be the salt of the earth means to be the flavor of the world.

The Blind Man

The man in John 9 had never seen light. He had heard of the sun, burnt his fingers in a fire, listened to stories about stars, and used words such as “day” and “night” in his vocabulary. But he had never experienced this light that he talked, sung, and heard so much about because he was born blind. Did he miss the light? Maybe. Did he long for light? Perhaps. But could he describe light? No. For to describe light would mean to know light and see light; both of which he never did.

John 9 has Christ’s disciples blaming the blind man’s ancestry for his condition: blind since birth. The events leading to the miracle in this story bear no resemblance to the speak-and-go healing recorded in Mark 2:11: “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.” No, this healing was a process; a slow process; a dirty process. It was a process that required a patient and long-suffering kind of obedience: faith. First, Jesus spat on the ground. Then he made some mud with the saliva, and put the putty on the man’s eyes, sealing the process with a command, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (John 9:6-7).

The man went, did as he was commanded, and came back seeing.

His Story, Our Story

Why is this story intriguing? Because this story is my story, and I believe that it is also yours, and the story of many more people that are still wandering on the face of the earth, born blind and drowning in despair. If you don’t get how this is your story, I suggest you pick up your bible, open up to John 9 and I will show you something. Read verse 1: “As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth.” Did you see it? Read the verse again. Okay, it took me a while to see it too. Jesus “saw” the man. The man did not see Jesus. He couldn’t. He did not call out to Jesus. For all we know, Jesus would have passed by, and the man would have never known about him. This point is pivotal. It is the point of our Christian mission (message and lifestyle).

Rarely will the world run after you to ask you about Jesus. Rarely will sinners stop you to ask about Christ. Rarely will the world spend sleepless nights disturbed by its sinfulness. The world is born sinful (Rom 3:23) and will not seek for righteousness. It will not, until you create the need in the world. It will not until you step in and become the salt. Live such an exceptional life that the world will wonder where you came from. Speak such marvelous truths that the world wonders where you get your truth. Be so patient that the world wonders who waited so long for you. Be so kind until the world starts to inquire whose kind you are.

Be the Salt

And most importantly, preach the Gospel.

Do not be discouraged when you falter. Exceptional lives are not exempt from sin. You will get dirty. You will get muddy. Your reputation will be tainted. Your bank account will be threatened. But your light will shine throughout all eternity. Be the salt of the earth.

Lives will be transformed. Minds will be freed. Hearts will be changed, and when people start to wonder, “How then were your eyes opened?”

He replied, “The man they call Jesus made some mud and put it on my eyes. He told me to go to Siloam and wash. So I went and washed, and then I could see.”  (John 9:17)

Has Jesus made a change in your life that’s worth raising eyebrows?

Does the fruit in your life light up a room when you enter?

Does the Gospel-saturated grace in your speech spice up a discourse when you speak?

This article first appeared on raanetwork.org, and is used with permission.

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