Moral decay...!!!!

We are living in a world today that is going through a state of moral decay. Immorality is becoming so rampant. On Saturday, there was an article in TheStar about a 14 years old schoolgirl who admitted that she was addicted to kinky sex acts after watching pornographic video clips downloaded from the internet. The girl is not from big cities like Kuala Lumpur, Johor Bahru or Georgetown that is affected by modernization. Instead, she is from a small fishing town called Besut. Besut is located in the state of Terengganu.

We are living in a generation where even small town like Besut is well connected with Internet that makes information and knowledge acquired easily. Unfortunately it is also subject to abuse such as the case above. As I reflect upon what is happening, my heart cries out seeing such moral decay in our nation.

I believe the answer to many of the social problems is for Christian to start practicing to be the "salt of the earth" and "light of the world". We are able to influence values day in, day out through bringing a distinctively Christian approach to the people we come across as we go about our daily lives. This is what we mean by being "salt and light" in the world (Matthew 5:13,14), where by living distinctively Christian lifestyles we seek to influence those around us, and through this the values, decisions and priorities adopted by our communities.

Somehow in the midst of all this social turmoil, the Christian has lost their saltiness. We lost our edge to influence positive values in our society. Many years ago, the missionaries who came to our nation influence good values to our young people through their education program and social concern. But somehow, over time, that impact has diminish. Salt which loses its saltiness is useless. Jesus' teaching is challenging. There is little room for those who are Christians, but who have lost their saltiness, or their "edge". Without the testimony of lives lived out with integrity and consistency with the principles that Christians claim to follow, the testimony of our lips is useless.

It is also timely for us to shine like never before. Stop hiding our light. Stop shining only on Sunday. The light that we bring, is not our own light - it is not who we are in ourselves, but rather the light of God shining through our lives as the Holy Spirit works through them. We hide our light when we fail to confront with behaviors that are not in line with Jesus' teaching. We hide our light when we don't care for the needs of others, and walk by on the other side : since we have missed an opportunity to let the light of Jesus' compassion shine out in acts of kindness. If we let the light of the Holy Spirit at work in us shine through, then we bring glory to God, and there can be no greater joy than being able to give glory to the Father as we go through our daily lives.

When Jesus said, "You are the salt of the earth" (v.13) and "You are the light of the world"(v.14), He made a statement of fact. He did not say we should be the salt or we should be the light of the world. He said we are salt and light. The crucial thing is for us, as believers, to function as salt and light are intended to function. That is the purpose of the analogies Christ uses in His statements.

Be Blessed.