• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Sermo Humilis

Humble Speech

  • Home
  • Topics
    • Just a Thought
    • Who we Are Instead
    • Life in Christendom
  • Series
    • Topical
      • Words that Matter
      • Jesus Through all of Life
      • 8 Weeks Before Marriage
      • Life and Times of Jesus
      • Rock of Ages
      • The Ten Commandments
    • Bible Book
      • Proverbs
      • The Book of Ezra
      • 1 Corinthians
  • About
  • Contact
  • Subscribe
  • Show Search
Hide Search
You are here: Home / Just a Thought / Be Not Blah

Be Not Blah

2 September 2021 By David Trounce

Reading Time: 3 minutes
Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Be Not Blah - Sermo Humilis

When Jesus flipped the conversation in Matthew 5:13-16 from, “You are the salt, your are the light,” to, “I did not come to abolish the law but to fulfil it” in Matthew 5:17-20, He was not changing the subject. The subject was our presence in this world as salt and light. The subject was the Law of God in word and deed as that which gives light and life to the world.

Salt interrupts spoilage. It is sprinkled about the place to keep the corruption at bay. It was also sprinkled over the temple sacrifices and offered up to God as a pleasing aroma (Leviticus 2:13).

This means that the salt has something to do with our speech.

Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person. (Colossians 4:6)

Being salty means applying the word to the world around us. Such speech adds flavour, gives it punch, and keeps us from just sounding blah.

Thou shalt not be Blah

The answer to a hard heart is not a plate of aeroplane jelly. Christians are not called to point the finger, but neither are they called to an endless round of the touchy-feelies. All that such Christian cultures achieve is an inability to stand strong in the day of trial.

To the bankrupt woman caught in adultery (John 8:11), instead of the tasteless, “Oh, well, we all make mistakes…” we have, “Neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more.”

And to the son backing out of the driveway on a Friday night, instead of, “Be careful, have fun,” we have,

My son, be attentive to my wisdom and incline your ear to understanding. For the lips of the forbidden woman drip honey, but in the end she is as bitter as wormwood… her feet go down to death… do not eat her delicacies. (Proverbs 5:1-6)

Let your words be salty… and let your light shine, said Jesus.

Light exposes things hidden in the darkness, but it does it in a particular way. Jesus tells us to let our light shine so that others will see our good works and glorify God, our Father in Heaven.

Light has to do with good deeds and those good deeds are our obedience to the Law and the Prophets.

The deeds themselves bring to light God’s goodness and that in turn reveals the futility and evil of the deeds of sinful man.

But note the emphasis. The intent is not to reveal something bad, but to reveal something good.

Think of it this way. Living next door to the guy with the bigger barn (Luke 12:16-20), we have an old lady who runs a soup kitchen. Across the street from the abortion clinic is not a mob of placard-carrying noise makers, but a Christian Mum and Bub Club.

We get salty in our conversation and well-lit in our deeds by drawing attention to the truth, beauty, and mercy of God in a dark and deceitful culture. The world is not transformed by yelling at the darkness or joining the world in its murky, lukewarm, blah.

The world is transformed by salty speech and kingdom-building soup kitchens. If you’re going to say something, say something that hits the mark. If you’re going to do something, do something that brings Christ into focus.

Related...

Waiting

When the Fever Breaks

Gazing at Eternity

Charity

Filed Under: Just a Thought Tagged With: Light, Salt, Speech


Writing Ideas on Sermo HumilisWhat do You Want to Read About?

 

Nothing like real-world issues to focus the mind. If you have something you would like me to write about, send me a message and let me know.

 

Primary Sidebar

Sermo Humilis

For the love of all things true, beautiful and good.


Welcome to Sermo Humilis, a digital home for biblical discipleship and cultural Christianity. A few new thoughts every week.

Please remember to like, subscribe and share. It really helps me out.

Categories

  • Life in Christendom
  • Just a Thought
  • Who we Are Instead

Find us on Social

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Medium
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Support Sermo Humilis

If you enjoy Sermo Humilis and want to say thanks you can support me here.

Support

Series

Sidebar Series - 1 Corinthians Sidebar - Words that Matter Sidebar - Jesus Through all of Life Series Sidebar Series - The Book of Ezra

The Most Popular Guff

Ezra #1 – Pots and Pans

God's people have always been keen observers of history. They are

No Mere Mortals

Look at the people around your table or the person on the other side

Because Time is No Healer

One of the reasons we have for believing that there is a Creator in

A Man Called John

While Peter was a married man and probably among the oldest of the

Life in The Spirit

Many Christians hear the words, "Holy Spirit" and immediately think,

#16 Jesus and Church

The people of God have always had a mother and so when we talk about

There’s a Lion in the Streets

I've been banging on about courage and risk for some time now, and

See and Hear

On the move? Weekly content can also be seen and heard via Youtube.

Topics

Beauty Charity Children Covenant Creation Death Discipleship Evangelism Faith Faithfulness Fear Forgiveness Gospel Grace Grief Guilt Holiness Hope Jesus Joy Judgement Kingdom Law Liberty Life Love Marriage Mercy Money Obedience Power Prayer Redemption Rest Resurrection Sacrifice Salvation Service Sin Suffering Truth Victory Weakness Wisdom Worship

Footer

  • Home
  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy
  • Subscribe to Sermo Humilis

Find us on Social

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Support Sermo Humilis

If you enjoy Sermo Humilis and want to say thanks you can support me here.

Support

Copyright © 2025 · Sermo Humilis

Thor's Oak

Around 723 AD, a missionary named Boniface entered Hesse in Germany. Upon finding a sacred tree named Thor’s Oak, he took an axe to it, cut it down and built a church. Many in the town, believing that the God of Boniface must be greater than Thor, left their paganism behind converted to Christianity.