Matthew 5 is a very powerful passage of scripture, it starts with the Sermon on the Mount, which is about the Beatitudes, then addresses the concept of being salt and light. Seele Contributor, Thomasena Thomas shares how God calls us as Christians to live a certain way. God wants us to be set apart from the rest of this world because we are not of this world, we are to be God's hands and feet here on earth. Heavy I know, but that’s what God calls us to do.

In thinking about who God wants us to be, and doesn’t it make sense as to why God expects so much of us and expects us to hold and conduct ourselves in a certain way? It is because we are representing Him here on earth. Take some time to think about that, do you think the way you are living right now in this present moment, represents Christ? Do you think God would say, “She/He is truly embodying me here on earth?” If you don’t think He would say that, then something has to change.

God calls us to be Salt and Light of this world. Matthew 5: 13 states:

What a beautiful passage, we are called to be a light in this dark world. This year I have been working to live a much more intentional and holistic lifestyle. I hope that my life and all that I do will embody the Fruit of the Spirit. So far, it’s been going, lol. When you ask God to make you more like Him, he puts you through something called a refining process, this process is a cleansing process and is done so that we can be molded to the likeness of Him. I feel like my refining process is much more excruciating than what I would like it to be, lol. I am trusting God's process.

In this refining process, God may ask that we give up something or something’s that we thought was from Him. When He does this, He isn’t doing it to be malicious. He may be doing it because the blessing He gave is consuming us and veering us from the process He had us on. It may be confusing because we think we are following the plan He set for us. God does everything for a reason, we may not understand what that reasoning is in the beginning but over time, it will become clear.

Giving up something to God doesn’t mean we will never experience that blessing again, it just means we give God our all. We have to show God that we are fully committed to Him and are willing to sacrifice our desires so that we can have a blessed life in Him.