After the Los Angeles riots, Steve Futterman of CBC radio broadcast an interview he had with one of the riot ™s many looters. The man had been one of many people who had looted a record store. When asked what he had stolen, the man replied, "Gospel tapes. I love Jesus." (1)

Our text for the day is about people who love Jesus, but hopefully in a more positive way than did this looter.

Jesus defined his followers as the "salt of the earth" and the "light of the world." "You are the salt of the earth," Jesus told them. He did not say, "Someday in the future you will be `the salt of the earth. ™" Jesus told them that they were already the "salt of the earth." "You are the light of the world," Jesus charged his disciples. Again, Jesus did not say, "Someday in the future, if you do all that I …