As many of you know, Katy and I took a trip for our 5th anniversary a few weeks ago. We got to see so many cool sites across the island of Puerto Rico. One of the sites we saw was “San Juan Bautista Catedral” which translated into English means “Saint John the Baptist Cathedral.” It is the 2nd oldest cathedral in the United States.

I had no idea that “Juan Bautista” was John the Baptist until one of our tour guides told us. In fact, the capital city is even named “San Juan” after Saint John the Baptist.

I’m not sure why I thought this was so cool. There are cathedrals and cities all over the world that are named after people we read about in the Bible. But for some reason standing in the city, and in that cathedral made it that much cooler for me.

What struck me was the fact that Christianity has had an undeniable influence across the world. It’s easy to see Christianity just through an American lens. However, that view is so short sighted that it misses beauties like the influence Christianity has had in so many other places. So much so that they named their city and their church building after John the Baptist!

As we walked the that cathedral the thought kept coming back to my mind, “If Christianity has permeated the world THAT much throughout history, why can’t we make that happen again?” My point in this article is to encourage you (and me) to not give up spreading Christian influence. We are called to be the salt of the earth, and the light of the world (Matthew 5:13ff). Yet when I look around at our nation, I see the Christian influence loosing its footing. Let’s not give up fighting in this world to be the light that overcomes the darkness. Let’s not give up being the salt that permeates everything it touches. Let’s spread the Christian influence so much so that perhaps they’ll begin renaming buildings and cities after the heroes we read about in the pages of Scripture.

-Kolton Ballance

In Matthew 5:13 Jesus said the famous words, “You are the salt of the earth.” These words were a gut-wrenching indictment from Jesus to the people of Israel. God expected His people to be an influence for the goodness of God since the day he made a covenant with them when they came out of Egypt. God wanted His people to be a light to the nations around them, and to spread the influence of God’s kingdom everywhere they went. But somewhere along the way, the people became corrupt. They abused the goodness of God, and their light that was supposed to shine in the darkness, was put out.

These are the same people Jesus wrote to and said, “You are the salt of the earth...you are the light of the world” (Matthew 5:13-14). Jesus wanted to remind the people of God that their lives should have been spreading the goodness of God’s kingdom all over the world. They should have been like salt that spreads its flavor everywhere it goes. They should have been like a light that brightens the darkness in a house. But they had lost their influence, and Jesus said compared them to salt that had lost its saltiness, and a light that had been put under a basket. They were not spreading the influence of God’s kingdom the way they needed to be.

You know, God still wants His people today to be spread His goodness the same way He expected Israel to back then. God expects you and I to permeate the world as salt spreads its flavor. He expects us to shine the light of God’s kingdom as a lamp in a dark room.

The question for us is, have we lost our saltiness? Are we like a lamp thats been put under a basket? We have been called to spread God’s kingdom influence all around us. Are you like salt adding the flavor of God’s kingdom in the world around you? Or like a light illuminating the darkness of the world?

Ask yourself this week what the people around you see. Do they someone who is oozing with the goodness of God? Do they see someone who is spreading love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, and self control? Are you being the salt of the earth, or have you lost your saltiness? God needs you to spread His goodness in the world around you.