Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most
of every opportunity. Let your
conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know
how to answer everyone. – Colossians 4:5-6 (NIV)
Like much of Biblical text, these verses are interpreted in
different ways. This is evidenced by reading
the many versions of the Bible. These
two versions follow one another somewhat on this verse.
“Walk in wisdom toward those who are outside”. Who is outside? Those outside are those that are not a part
of the church – non-believers. This is a
reference to the lost. All people who do
not believe in Jesus as the Son of God who was sent here to walk with man, live
with man, then die for man and was resurrected into life and sits with God the
Father today are “outside”. Those who are
His are being told to be wise in how you walk with them and how you act with
them. We are to be wise in how we
interact with lost people.
“toward”. I
believe it is very important to not miss this word in this text. We are to be wise in the way we act toward non-believers. God’s people are to deliberately interact
with non-believers! This is intentional
effort. Christians should not lament
their difficulties with working with the lost, but seek the opportunities,
while they exist, to interact with the lost so they can be a witness to the one
living Savior.
“Redeeming the time”. Every moment with a lost person is
important! Why is it important? Here is where I disagree with the main intent
of the interpretation of The Message Bible which says “the goal is to bring out the best in others in
a conversation”. This is not
how I interpret the main intent of these verses. The reason we must be wise in our time spent
with a lost person is because every opportunity must be seized if it can be to bring
the witness of the knowledge and reality of Jesus to them. We must be wise in how we make the most of
our opportunities.
“Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with
salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.” Because we must make the most of our
opportunities, it is most important that our speech is gracious and not full of
venom as the world’s. Our conversation
must be a witness to grace and it must be sprinkled with worthy of tasting. It should have the flavor of the gospel within
it. Our conversation should apply to
everyone that we are able to have contact with.
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