Life Words
2 Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. 3 And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. 4 Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should. 5 Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. 6 Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.
"Death and life are in the power of the tongue."
—Proverbs 18:21
Bee's Thoughts:
My heart skipped a beat when I saw the title of this morning devotion. Why?
For the last two days, I have been receiving articles from the Daily Encounter about "Words". I have written my thoughts about them, "It's Only Words" and "Action Words", at my JOE blog (Journal Of an Educator). And now again.... it's about "Words". Three days in a row... God must have a very important message for me. What is God trying to tell me then?
Dear, Lord, I know You have something to impress me this morning. Before I begin my devotion, I pray that Your Holy Spirit will reveal the truth to me. Amen.
Now, the above passage asks Christians to:
1. pray, be watchful, be thankful (v2)
2. pray for open door for the gospel, the message to be clear (v3,4)
3. be wise in the way we act toward unbelievers, be opportunitist (v5)
4. speak with grace, words seasoned with salt, wisdom to answer everyone (v6)
Yes, our effort in doing the first 3 items would be null and void if we do badly in item 4.
How should we speak? With "grace" and "seasoned with salt". Salt is a preservative, it heals, and makes food tastes better. Here we are not talking about flattering or be hypocritical. We are to "speak the truth in love". When we love, we don't want to hurt a person yet we want to be honest. So we need the art of speaking with "grace", not harsh, and our words should heal the other person as well. A delicate balance isn't it? Wisdom is needed here. Something I need to keep learning.
Dear Lord, thank You for today's message. Let Your Holy Spirit be my mouth piece, let me speak words of life and not words of death to the people around me. Help me speak with Your grace and mercy, to encourage and to heal the hearts of the listeners even if I need to speak the truth that isn't favorable. Most of all, let Your love be always be in my heart. Amen.
.......the devotion of Bee
