“Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time. Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.”
- To act wise toward outsiders, you must interact with them. For your conversation to be full of grace and seasoned with salt, you must have conversation. We have opportunities every day to share the Gospel, build relationships, speak to strangers, etc. The sad thing is we probably miss most of those opportunities because we are in a hurry and have worldly business on our minds. Chance meetings are planned by God, and not by chance at all. We need to be intentional about spreading the love of Christ in everything we do and everywhere we go. Strike up conversation with the lady who is working at Walmart, the guy whose pumping gas next to you, your coworker, etc. Let God lead the conversation to the cross. He will. But most of all, know that “People don’t care what you know, until they know that you care”. Some people we see for a lifetime, some we see for a season, and some we see for only a moment. May we never miss an opportunity to exhibit Christlike behavior, and to share Christlike love. The moment we ignore someone who God put in our path; may be the only moment we have to share the love of Jesus with them.
- How have you responded to the ordained meetings and relationships that have been placed in your life for God’s glory?
- How will you respond when the next opportunity arrives? Will you be looking for it?
- Words, language, rumors, and gossip, are all included in your speech. What is the attitude of your speech? Negative rumors, and all gossip, have no place in the Christian life.
- Will your words be evidence of Jesus in your life, or will love and kindness not even enter the picture?
- How is your speech seasoned?
Matthew 5:13 “You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet.”
James 3:6, 9-11 “And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell. With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so. Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and salt water?”
Ephesians 4:29 “Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.”
Matthew 12:34 “For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.”