2016.05.29_Be Salt and Light

Let’s receive God our Father’s love

God is the Father. Nowadays, parents have a great passion for educating and making their children succeed in their lives. Unlike the past, as the society becomes a nuclear family society, parents expressing love and affection has become more honest and natural. However, while many young parents have great love for their children, they do not remember how their parents have loved them for so long. Rather, they are likely to remember their parents’ strictness, which is surely a misunderstanding. We are the ones who have grown with the love of our parents.

God is our Father. He loves us. It is because He loves us that He gave His One and Only Son to us (John 3:16). It was possible for us to be saved and become the righteous ones, and also have the resurrection and eternal life because God showed His love for us. It is also possible for us to receive God’s power and spiritual gifts, and live with the hope for heaven because He loves us. The fact that God so loved the world that He gave us His One and Only Son, is the foundation of our faith.

Whatever God kindly gives us with His love, we must be willing to receive it without rejection. If God gives us the authority of prayer, we must believe that our prayer will surely be answered. Even if it takes ten days, a month, or forty years, we must not lose the faith that our prayer will be answered. And if God has blessed us, we must believe that the blessings will surely be fulfilled in our lives.

We are the ones who received God’s gracious favor. In other words, we are the people who received God’s grace and love. God sending Jesus Christ to us means that He opened the way for us (John 14:6). Anyone who proceeds through the way can receive God’s love abundantly. God did not restrict His love for us. Hence we must receive His merciful love without limitation.

God did not hide His work to Abraham. That was because Abraham loved God. If anyone does not understand God’s love, it is because he or she does not love God. If anyone is stingy and lazy before God, the reason is that he or she does not love God. Whoever loves God, he or she will accept God’s merciful love as it is.

Let us become salt by being soaked by the light of God

God’s love has been delivered to us through His word. The Word is the light of men (John 1:1~4). X-rays, which is a type of light, can penetrate a person’s body. Hospitals use such quality of X-rays to take images of the inner parts of one’s body. Likewise, although the light, the word of God, cannot be seen through our eyes, it penetrates our flesh, bone, and even into our soul and works inside us (Hebrews 4:12). We must receive in that light. The world did not receive the light, but rather hated it. However, we must receive in the light, and let the light settle in our soul (John 1:12)

The Lord told us to be salt and light (Matthew 5:13~16). Light and salt are closely related. One of the ways to get salt is to hold sea water in a salt pond, letting the water evaporate under the sun over a long period of time. For the water to evaporate and leave salt behind, there has to be adequate supply of light. Just as you harvest fruit from where you sow and crops where the farmer puts his effort into, so is salt made where light is provided. Likewise, we are the people who have received the light of truth. Thus, we must be soaked by the light and become salt.

For food to taste good it must be seasoned with salt. Though a dish is made from good ingredients, if not seasoned with salt, it cannot taste good. Similarly, wherever there is a person who has received the words of God and grace abundantly, through him or her others should have reconciliation and be holy, instead of being governed by the ways of the world. In other words, If you are a believer, wherever you go, you must be respected and receive love from others, just like salt giving out its flavor. Just as salt is obtained when light is shone on the sea water, so a spirit-filled person should have the spiritual fruits such as love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control, thereby bringing about beautiful changes in the place where the person is.

Let’s make the love of God known to people

Some would say they live by faith, but actually live religiously, which is just self-satisfaction. But they consider themselves as having a devout faith. For you to check whether your faith remains religious or not, you should check how much you affect others positively (Matthew 5:15).

Jesus strongly said that people do not light a lamp and put it under a bowl, instead they put it on its stand (Matthew 5:15). If you light a lamp and just cover it with a bowl, since no one can see it, there is no meaning in lighting the lamp. Once you light a lamp, you should put it on its stand. The stand is a mirror that makes the light of a lamp spread out further.

If, after receiving grace through the words of God, you just seek material abundance and secular prosperity through it, that is the same as lighting a lamp and putting it under a bowl. If we truly received grace, more and more people should be saved by us. You must not consider yourself a faithful believer just because you diligently come to the church building. Like a lamp on its stand, you must illuminate your light to others.

You must have inspiration by being soaked by the love of God. In short, you must be the man of God. The man of God seems lonely, like Elijah the prophet; however, in heaven he is not. Where there is a queen bee, hundreds of thousands of bees converge around her. The Christ, the King of kings, was always guarded and accompanied by multitude of angels, even though people could not see. If we receive the love of God and inspiration, then just as bees gather around the queen bee, angels will help us.

We are the people who have received the words of truth. We are the people who have been covered with the precious blood and even received the Holy Spirit. Thus, we must be salt by being soaked by the light of God’s love. We must give off our flavor as people of God. Not only should we, but we must make our children also understand the love of God. Rather than inheriting them material wealth, we must make them possess a great faith. We must not let them be religious people who misunderstand themselves as having faith. We must be the people who make the love of God known to many others.

While looking back these past few years a phrase from the Bible comes to my mind. ‘Meaningless! Meaningless! All labor under the sun is utterly meaningless.’-this is truth. However, even though my whole body has spent my life under God’s grace, my heart was able to work under God’s love. Even though my soul receives grace, my flesh is seriously exhausted. However, there is a special reason I can continue to work under God’s love. That is only patience. No matter who asks me about it, my answer will be the same.

Doing the Lord’s work is not possible without patience. Sometimes, I have self-doubts several times a day, but I have withstood with patience, and the psychological suffering I experienced during my time while living with others was much worse than physical suffering. However, I have withstood and withstood. I used to feel like dying, but each time, I practiced patience. When I could not bear the suffering of hunger, I overcame those moments with patience as well.

No one truly knows how demanding evangelism and ministry are until they experienced it. Since society today is very different from that of 50 years ago, it is not possible to do the ministry with the same mentality, so I have never forgotten patience at any crisis, just as I never stop breathing.

I think the reason that people get into trouble is that they lack patience. Even though many pastors may seem perfect, through conversation with them, I realize how much patience they lack. I cannot advise them anymore. I also think that if some businessmen or officer workers feel their limits are being tested, it is because they have abandoned patience, which has great power. Even if a boy is smart enough, but does not maintain patience, he will not blossom in his field.

My way of living is only through patience. I think the reason that the Lord loves me is that I am good at withstanding. However, even though I have withstood a lot, I feel that I lack patience. So, I have regrets because of my lack of patience. Originally, I was a boy who lacked patience; however, after I found my purpose in life, I could withstand, due to my belief that I cannot stop from achieving my purpose. Then, after I received the Holy Spirit, I gained patience as a fruit of the Holy Spirit. Now, as the Holy Spirit more powerfully works in me, I regard patience as a great spiritual gift.

Even now, I endure again and again. However, I am slightly worried that I am limited in endurance, but I am sure that patience brings victory eventually. I think that the Lord has given me an extraordinary amount of patience.

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Outline translated by Sarah Lee
Letter translated by Sung-In Hong
Interpretations by Angela Moon

Chief Editor: Helen Nam
Korean Summary by Ki-Taek Lee