What is the role of God's people in the world? Are we just here to survive until God calls us home, or do we actually have a purpose in life?
In his teachings, Jesus often told parables. During the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said the following:
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.
What did Jesus mean when he said that we are the salt and light of the earth? From the context, it is widely understood that he was referring to our impact on the world around us. Just as salt preserves food, the presence of Christians in a culture helps keep it from decay. Likewise, being a light in the world helps to expose darkness and evil. Often this is summarized as a saying that reflects biblical teaching, "Be in the world, but not of the world". In other words, we don't belong to this world and its values (don't conform), but we are put here for a time to positively impact the world as we live our (transformed) lives. See here for a short explanation of what this means.
When Christians withdraw from the culture, they lose influence over it. When his disciples refuse to participate in politics (or even vote), we end up being led by unbelievers with different moral standards from those taught by Jesus. When Jesus' followers allow the government to distribute welfare, the moral basis of charity is lost. When God's people hide behind false piety and cloister themselves into small, isolated communities, the world is a poorer place. When believers don't speak up and stand up against immorality, evil triumphs.
The world and our country are far from perfect. In many ways we have slid away from the constitutional republic given to us by the blood of godly patriots past. As John Adams said, "Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious People. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other." But throwing everything away and starting over, just because we don't get our own way or feel we are not having a voice, is foolish. Without the moral foundation that the people of our nation have lost, any such effort is lost before it starts. We need to strive to improve our society by being salt and light – from the inside out. Instead of looking to pick the "lesser of two evil", we need to make sometimes hard moral choices about what (or who) will "do the greater good".
