May's WOW, Tasty Words!

Coffee Hour @ Chicklit Power...

Colossians 4:6
Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one.
Thanks so much for joining me for a little coffee break today and more our WOW for May. Grab your coffee and come on in away from the demands upon your life and all the worldly noise, and don’t forget your Strand of Faith so we can tie some knots.
By the way, if I left you a bit hungry yesterday, I do apologize! :)
Let’s get to our tasty words – actually before I do that, let me give you sort of a historical backdrop so we may digest them with a whole new enjoyment!
Paul is writing his letter to the Colossian church from a prison cell in Rome and I can only imagine how helpless he must have been feeling as the stories of syncretism were coming to him. In other words, the Colossian church was combining principles and ideas from other philosophies and religions, such as heathenism, Judaism with a bit of Greek thought with an emphasis on special knowledge that denied Christ as the Savior.
Let’s stop right there for just a minute! Dang it; I thought I was going to get away with a light-hearted blog this time, and not be so serious – (I’ve been in the trenches with my trenchers for eight weeks now to help others OUT of their wounds, weaknesses and worries and could use a little laughter) -- but this demands a bit of attention, this syncretism, which is in some ways like mixing sugar and salt, tempting! The teacher’s heart in me won’t just skip it.
It encourages my soul to know that “New Age” philosophies aren’t so “new agey,” if you know what I mean! More and more we are hearing about this doctrine that comes from mixing this and a little of that. For example: esotericism, a religious perspective that is based on the acquisition of mystical knowledge and is a form of Gnosticism. Or what about the “angel” craze? Anyway, the Word of God warns us about this and tells us we are to have an answer for our faith, to defend why we believe what we believe, and this is the motivation behind Paul’s letter that he wrote to the Colossians from his prison cell.
In verse 5 he is encouraging the Colossians to walk in wisdom toward those who are outside, meaning toward the non-Christian, the false teacher, the atheist, the prostitute, the addict . . . the list goes on and on. And then once you are in front of them, Paul says: Let your speech always be with grace – let’s stop right there.
Well, I’m sorry to be negative Nellie, but “always,” really? Fail! But as much as is possible – and I am in no way changing Paul’s Spirit inspired letter to the Colossians and to us; I just know I fall short every day but I get back up and try again, and His grace gives me permission to do just that!
The kind of grace that is referred to requires a divine influence upon the heart and indicates favor on the part of the giver. In other words, as we make our way toward the unbelieving soul, we are not to be accusatory and/or critical in speech but our words are to be flavored with graciousness, i.e. a little sugar.
Join me tomorrow for the salt!

Evinda