Matthew 5:13-48 KJV
13 Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.
14 Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.
15 Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house.
16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.
17 Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.
18 For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.
19 Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
20 For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.
21 Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment:
22 But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.
23 Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee;
24 Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.
25 Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with him; lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison.
26 Verily I say unto thee, Thou shalt by no means come out thence, till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing.
27 Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery:
28 But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.
29 And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.
30 And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.
31 It hath been said, Whosoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a writing of divorcement:
32 But I say unto you, That whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery: and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth adultery.
33 Again, ye have heard that it hath been said by them of old time, Thou shalt not forswear thyself, but shalt perform unto the Lord thine oaths:
34 But I say unto you, Swear not at all; neither by heaven; for it is God's throne:
35 Nor by the earth; for it is his footstool: neither by Jerusalem; for it is the city of the great King.
36 Neither shalt thou swear by thy head, because thou canst not make one hair white or black.
37 But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil.
38 Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth:
39 But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.
40 And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloke also.
41 And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain.
42 Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away.
43 Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.
44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;
45 That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.
46 For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same?
47 And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so?
48 Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.

In the rest of this chapter containing Jesus teaching on part of the sermon on the mount but it not the rest of the sermon it been divided up into three chapters in Matthew. It interesting to note this next section because with the issue of salt and if salt looses it saltiness that you might as well toss it out or get rid of it. Now those that know what salt is ,know salt can not loose it flavor, it fact it called salt because it is salt. Then Jesus goes into talking about light that we are the light of the world. If we stop with these two sections it can sum up the rest of the chapter very easily. Jesus talks about the law and obedience to the law in such away to point out sin, as well as what love is. Talks about love for one's fellowman, including a stranger. To love even those we know not, is to have the love of God. Nothing wrong with shunning evil ways and evil people, but not to love to help or to aid is not of God when a person is in need. To obey the law is love, to respect your fellow man is love. To be salt and light is to obey the laws of God, for those that see this obedience, this love want it has well. No one wants to be beat up daily, they want love and not hate or abuse. People do not desire evil/painful experiences, they want love. Even bad societies understand what love is. Did Israel loose their salt because of evil kings and even ways, not completely, because God's people have always existed in Israel. The light in Israel have not always shined because of evil ways and evil kings. God's light still existed despite the power of governments or society at the time. Darkness will not always thrive in the world, because even heathens want the love of God.

If I could say to you to love, not to loose the light of faith within you this morning, that would be what I tell you. However we all have times when anger is in our hearts because of evil coniniving people and often light does not shine in our anger. Love often can not shine always because of our humanity. Jesus did not tolerate the abuse of the Pharisees that tried to trick him with question, or acted self righteously, instead of living by faith with the love of God. Yet the Pharisees were often singled out to demonstrate what we should not be as well. That our righteousness came by faith not by our works. Our love for others must come from God, must come for our love of self and love for all things good. Our self righteous actions because we desire those action to be done to us in love. You do not go around smacking or pinching people because you don't want to be smacked or pinched. You do not sleep around with married person because you do not want others to sleep with your spouse. You do not steal because you do not want to be robbed. You do not kill because you do not want to have people kill you or those you love. You treat people with respect, because you want that respect too.

Tico twice in two days has stomped my foot jumping off of whatever he was on beside me, whether couch or bed. Tico is a dog. One would like to stomp his foot to keep him from stomping a foot, but in reality for a dog he does not learn that way unless being taught by another dog. Tico either is not allowed on the furniture to correct him or I allow him to keep jumping down, and I learn to tolerate a bruised foot. Being picked on is like that, you either fight back or you you ignore it and learn to take it. Standing up to a bully is not a bad thing. Yet it does not always work. That why there is courts, and laws to protect against evil and evil ways. Tico stomping my foot and that is evil, but his correction must come with some other form of correction then stomping his foot. Mother dog would just nip him, or thump him with her paw. However humans have to teach the dog not to do something. Children have to be taught, if they not taught, they never have salt or light of God in them. Many people have some light of God in them by their good works, but they may not be complete salt or light, meaning they need to be transformed by God's Spirit to truly be the salt they should be or the light they can be to others of the true grace of God and his mercy. Tico still knows I love him. He knows not why I was fussing at him when I screamed. It like having a ten pound weight dropped on one foot. However, he knows I love him. The point being tico loves, but he still a dog learning to love and to not always show aggression to his fellow pet siblings even in play or his parents. Tico is not evil dog, he has a gentleness, no clue why anyone get rid of him, but this morning I could of sent him to the pound. In our anger do we still love. Not always as we should. After calming down from my foot stomping. I turned to tico who is back on the bed and petted him. He knows not what he did, but only mom yelling at him. When he seen gizzy our other dog being petted he came over without fear. Why because what he knows is when hand is out for petting, he not in trouble as he thought he was, as I speak calmly to him. Deception would only be if I took him to the pound.

When God gets angry at his people and puts him in exile he does so to teach us what his love is about. He give us our desire to be like other people by forcing them under government control. They can not understand the difference of evil leadership all the time without the absent of God in their government, and governmental ways constantly in their life without God. They were without the authority of the Temple in their life when in exile. Yet God authority always existed in the world. God would restore them to his love and to his unconditional love despite they were still under governmental rule, to keep them in the knowledge of the difference of government and his law of love by his spirit. To know the value of the love of his authority verse the love of another. There is a difference between the grace of God and grace of government by their laws and even the self righteous rule of some religious orders. When government breaks their own laws it is because they are evil tyrants, but when they keep the law they are good leaders and leaders of love even if they know not God. Many claim the love of God but not the law of being tyrants and their actions are known to many people whether they are evil or good. What man must do is fight against evil form of tyrancy. Does the dog know what the word pound means, I suspect so, or animal shelter. He does not want that authority in his life, he rather the love his mom and dad that adopted him. By this evening he will have stomped my foot one more time I suspect. Maybe he get it sooner or later don't jump on people feet from high up. God knows man will revert to love of government but not to the evil of government. God knows people love to have light of both a good government and good religious power in the land. Let the world love like God, if they can understand that type of light maybe one day they will receive his love that came direct to him in the form of his Son.

Dear Heavenly Father help us to love as believers like you loved us and sent your Son to died for all sinners. Help to follow your laws of love and to be salt and light in the world around us. In Jesus precious name, Amen.

Continual Scripture Study: Romans 5:1-5 KJV
1 Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:
2 By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
3 And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience;
4 And patience, experience; and experience, hope:
5 And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.