One way in which we can work towards this is what I call 'Community Facilitation', where the Christians do something that enables people in general to come together. It doesn't necessarily take that much, but a little seasoning goes a long way to bring down barriers and soon you find other people pitching in as well. At an event I was at today, when the rain came down it was not a serious problem - people stayed out and a few locals nipped in to fetch gazebos to quickly deploy so that they and their neighbours could keep dry while continuing to mix. In many ways it was a great moment.
I believe such blessing for the community will move things in one direction - a positive direction. One can get the idea of where it could eventually lead to by checking out v23 of the same chapter.
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Some would interpret this passage as referring to the millenial reign of Christ, and until Christ's return, then this sadly will not be the case. With regards to salt and light, I'm not sure the persecuted church would agree that it brings peace and harmony to their community. Salt stings as it cleanses and light exposes the darkness - generally not welcomed by unbelievers!
ReplyDeleteThe salt & light may indeed not be welcome by unbelievers (especially in acute persecution contexts), yet incredibly in such contexts the church instinctively knows that it must pro-actively be salt & light (as Open Doors will testify).
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