Fit in? Don’t stand out?

That is often what society encourages us to do: to go along with the rest of the world.

In today’s Gospel (Matthew 5:13-16), our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ tells us something totally different.

Don’t just fit in. Christ’s followers dare not lose their Christian distinctiveness.

You are the salt of the earth.
But if salt loses its taste,
with what can it be seasoned?
It is no longer good for anything
but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.

Stand out from the rest.

You are the light of the world.
A city set on a mountain cannot be hidden.
Nor do they light a lamp
and then put it under a bushel basket;
it is set on a lampstand,
where it gives light to all in the house.
Just so,
your light must shine before others,
that they may see your good deeds
and glorify your heavenly Father.