We are called to be a difference, not receive one

​In his sermon on the mount, Jesus defined what it meant to follow him. He said his followers were to be salt and light.

It's easy to skip over that and not feel the magnitude of what he called us to be. Salt and light; can you think of two bigger difference makers in the world?

Salt - the great preserver of life.

Light - the great introducer of life.

It's easy, when following Jesus, to get focused on what we're supposed to believe. But following Jesus has never been as simple as believing; it's always about being.

Being salt and light; being a remarkable difference maker that looks like the difference Jesus made.

I'm reminded this week that what sometimes stands in my way of following Jesus is that I can get much more focused on the difference I want to see in my life than on the difference I want to be with my life.

Jesus was always others centered, what difference can I make with my life?

Keith can get very self-centered, what difference can life make in my life?

I'm reminded this week that disappointment can be a symptom of upside down focus. Turning disappointment to contentment is often as simple as looking to make more difference than we're seeking to find.

Jesus made it clear that it's possible to lose our saltiness, it's possible to light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Maybe that happens most when we start focusing on the difference we want to see and not on the difference we've been called to be.

Salt.

Light.

It's our calling