COLOSSIANS 4:5-6

July 23, 2021

FULL OF GRACE

Colossians: 4:5-6 (BSB) Act wisely toward outsiders, redeeming the time. Let your speech always be gracious,G5485 seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.

G5485 charis– graciousness (as gratifying), of manner or act (abstr.or concr.: lit., fig., or spiritual: espec. The divine influence upon the heart, and its reflection in the life; including gratitude): – acceptable, benefit, favour, gift, grace- (ious), joy, liberality, pleasure, thank (-s,worthy).

Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible

Divinely influence my heart, Lord.

Let your grace be reflected in me.

When I’m engaged in conversation,

may my answers always be

seasoned with your salt, Lord,

to draw others closer to Thee.

How can conversation be full of grace? We need to allow Christ to shine through every aspect of our lives, especially our conversations. That does not mean we need to preach a sermon to everyone we meet on the street. But we should make the most of every opportunity to show the grace of God with those in our path. In normal conversation, there are many opportunities to be a gracious listener and express genuine concern for others. Many “outsiders” are surprised by graciousness and may ask why you would be so kind to a stranger. You can give an answer that the Lord works within you to respond to people as Jesus would, with compassion.

              Sometimes the Lord puts us in special situations to give us an opportunity to share his love with others. When Susan was in ICU on ventilator for eight days in 2019, we had many opportunities to testify to the love of Christ and to be compassionate toward others facing similar situations. Susan always encourages me to share when she is unable to speak, so I talked to nurses, doctors, and technicians who came in. God gave me opportunities to minister in the waiting room as well. One night I was able to comfort and share God’s love with a family who had just made the difficult decision to remove life support from their husband/father. God brought to mind appropriate Scripture verses to encourage and console them.

            Allow God’s divine influence upon your heart to spill over into your daily life, and others will see Jesus in you.  Seize every opportunity to be gracious and kind. Trust the Holy Spirit to enable you to answer questions about the Lord. Then add those people to your prayer list. You will have great joy when some of them come to know the Lord, and it is a blessing to know that you planted a seed even if you are not around to reap the harvest.

            Father, thank you for your saving grace that completely transformed our lives. Allow us to share that faith in conduct as well as words with those you bring into our sphere of influence. Help our words to be encouraging to others. Thank you for those whose words have comforted, challenged, and changed us over the years.