A grade school teacher from this church refuses to be intimidated by the threats not to say anything about Jesus in the classroom, so every Christmas she asks her students what Christmas means to them. She encourages the answers and the students tell the entire Christmas story for her. She does the same at Easter. That's being salt in the world of education.
I went to my doctor the other day for an annual check up. The nurse took me to a private room and said, "Wait here; the doctor will be right with you." There I sat with nothing to do. There were several books on the table. I leafed through one about health and exercise that contained an unashamed Christian testimony. That doctor is being salt in the medical community.
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There's a Christian man who is a leading official at the Louisville Zoo. When the gorilla exhibit was expanded not too long ago, some board members suggested the written explanation for the public should say that the apes are man's closest ancestors. But this Christian man spoke up and said, "Why don't we just emphasize the distinctive features of the gorilla. They are fascinating creatures with intriguing characteristics. Let's emphasize their uniqueness." If you go to the zoo today you'll not read about the evolution of the ape; you'll read about their distinctiveness. That's being the salt of the earth at the zoo!
If you're in public service, medicine, education, sales, media, you're to be the salt of that world. Most of the time you don't have to be argumentative. Do it in an attractive way that adds flavor and creates a thirst for God.
Jesus used another example to illustrate how we're to influence society. "You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden" (Matthew 5:14). Light illuminates a potentially dangerous path and makes it safe. Christians are to be luminaries along the path to God. We are to be spotlights showing the way to salvation. Isaiah 49:6 says, "I will . . . make you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring my salvation to the ends of the earth." That passage prophesied the work of the Messiah which has been passed along to us.
If I were to ask you, "How did you become a Christian," very few of you would say, "I sat down one day and read the Bible and concluded that it was true." Most of you would point to a person who showed you the way. "I had a teacher I really respected," or, "My mother was a good Christian example." Christian examples light the way to salvation.
Jesus said, "Your testimony should not be hidden." You don't light a lamp and put it under a huge popcorn bowl. You put that lamp on an elevated place so it gives as much light as possible." "In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven" (verse 16).