Salt and Light

Why can't I keep up with my blog? goshh.

I wanted to write in here since Monday but it never happens. I'm busy, but I feel like I'm not THAT busy.

This Monday Courtney and I went to a Bible study with college kids from the church we've been going to.

It was awesome! The way it works is that different people lead each week I guess, on a topic they have picked. It was pretty in depth and I really got a lot out of it.

We were mainly focusing on the first couple of verses in Isaiah 40.

¹ Comfort, comfort my people,
says your God.
² Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,
and proclaim to her
that her hard service has been completed,
that her sin has been paid for,
that she has received from the LORD’s hand
double for all her sins.

The boy who was teaching gave us a lot of hebrew words that gave more insight to the verses.

When it says speak tenderly it also means, personally...which I loved. God speaks personally to His people. We also talked about how it says MY people, and YOUR God.

God is OUR God. We are HIS. So cool.

"Her service"...meaning enlistment (challenge, battle) has been completed.

Basically the people in the passage were looking to Babylon and worrying about that... they wanted comfort and reassurance for THAT specific thing. God gave them comfort (listed twice which is always more meaningful) NOT for that, but because their sins HAD BEEN PAID FOR!

Often we want answers or we want to be comforted in certain areas, but God doesn't often comfort the way we think He will. We're looking at *this* over here, while God is saying, Yes, but look, your SINS are forgiven!! They are paid for! Find comfort in that.

We talked about the next verse a little bit too..."make straight in the desert a highway for our God". We discussed just HOW we can do that.

New light was brought to this verse for me :

¹³ “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.

¹⁴ “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. ¹⁵ Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. ¹⁶ In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.

Someone in the group mentioned the difference between salt and light.

For salt to have any effect, it needs to be touching whatever you are using it with. For example, if you're eating corn, and you have salt next to you, it does nothing. The salt needs to be ON the corn. The salt needs to touch whatever it is to have any effect.

Whereas light, shines and can be seen from a distance.

We need to be both in this world! We need to get "up close and personal" with people to be Jesus, but we also need to generally shine our light, and live our days glorifying Him.

I love that.

In other news, I subbed 3 times this week :) And would have subbed all week if it weren't for my own little issues. I was in the same k-4 class two days in a row, which was good, and then I was in 5th grade. I love 5th graders.

I now have a cold :( no fun. Today I went to a district admin building to pick up an application for something in a school...not a teacher though. (I may say more about this later) That's the main reason I didn't take a job today.

I'm excited for the weekend!

Hope yall have a great one too!