To Encourage You

Colossians 4:5-6 “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.”

If you are a believer and want to reach others with the good news of Jesus Christ, there are some critical things for you to realize that are given to us in the verses above.  These verses appear immediately after Paul asks the believers in the Colossian church to pray for him that “God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ, on account of which I am in prison— that I may make it clear, which is how I ought to speak.”  But then he gives guidance to others how they should live so that open doors would be provided to them to declare the mystery of Christ. 

One thing he says is that we are to make the best use of our time. In other words, each and every one of us has limited opportunities to share God’s truth with others.  We only have so many interactions with people. Some of those interactions are one-time events, and some of them, as with our families, may be for a lifetime. But our lifetimes are limited, so a keen awareness of those limits is crucial.  Putting things off until tomorrow or until some other time may be putting things off forever, so putting things off is not a wise way to live. 

But then, in view of these time limits, we are told to “walk in wisdom toward outsiders.”  “Wisdom” in the Scriptures is the opposite of “foolishness,” and “foolishness” is simply how the life of those without Christ is described.  In other words, a believer’s life should be markedly different from those who are unbelievers.  The believer is to live every moment to the glory of God, which is a way of life that the world knows nothing about – or even cares to know.  It’s a life of contrasts to the way those who don’t love Jesus speak, act, and react.  It’s a life in which one loves God with all his or her heart, soul, mind, and strength, and loves one’s neighbor as themselves.  It’s a life marked by kindness, gentleness, mercy and forgiveness.  It’s a life marked by gracious speech and a passion for the things of God. It is that kind of life that will raise questions in the minds of others, and it is a life for which we are to always be “prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect” (1 Peter 3:15). 

Finally, Paul’s guidance, i.e., the Holy Spirit’s guidance, through Paul,  is that our speech always be gracious towards others, and in particular towards those who are outside the faith.  Gracious words are just that, filled with grace, which is “unmerited favor.”  In other words, they are words designed to bless, not because another person necessarily deserves to be blessed, but because we have been blessed by a loving Father who pours out His grace constantly upon us. It was while we were yet sinners that Christ graciously died for us, and it is while we live among those who are still sinners that we are to follow our Lord’s example, dying to our own desires, and living to the desires of Christ. 

It’s a life lived like this and words that are spoken like this that will reach a world that is dying without Christ.  It was because Christ lived like and spoke like this that every believer has been moved toward faith in Him. That’s the way it always is, and the way it will always be, for it is “God’s kindness . . . (that) leads (us) to repentance” (Romans 2:4).

May God help us to show that same kindness towards others, and indeed make the most of every opportunity for which God opens a door to reach someone in this world with the gospel of His great love.