The Sermon on the Mount continues where it left off yesterday (Mt 5:13-16).  Now that Jesus established the Beatitudes, how are they to be lived out?  He says that we should be salt and light to the world: salt that does not lose its flavor, light that is not covered.  He concludes with the words at top.  Salt preserves and enhances; light assists in growth, dispels darkness, and makes apparent flaws.  How do we preserve the truth in society and make apparent erroneous laws, mores, and attitudes?  How do we enhance and grow the Kingdom here on earth?  How do we work to dispel the darkness that comes with the influence of sin and the prince of this world?  Jesus concludes this passage telling us to do this by our good deeds.  Let no one say that our good works do not matter — such ideas contradict the Bible!  It is true that what we do has no power outside of God’s grace, but by cooperating with that grace, we are instruments to bring others to glorify God through our Christian example.  Our humility tells us that all we are and all we have comes from God.  We acknowledge His grace and must strive to always be disposed to receive it by avoiding sin (especially mortal sin) and conforming to Him ever more closely.  We also acknowledge that we have been given gifts that we are meant to use so that our Creator can work through us to bring others to Him.  Do not hide that light or let it go dead.  Rather, enhance the wattage and ask God for the voltage to advance the Kingdom Jesus so often speaks of in Matthew.