Devotions: Salty Conduct

 

Conduct yourselves with wisdom toward outsiders, making the most of the opportunity. Let your speech always be with grace, as though seasoned with salt, so that you will know how you should respond to each person.

Colossians 4:5-6 New American Standard Bible 1995

 

It is so easy to become complacent and slack. Every day life just doesn’t seem like that big of a deal in the grand scheme so we let down our guard and stop being so intentional. However, this is a very dangerous attitude to adopt. Conducting ourselves with wisdom to outsiders does not in any way mean that we should treat them as if they are outsiders. As believers, we have been given access to the wisdom and mysteries of God, knowledge that was kept secret (by God) until after Christ’s resurrection. This mystery was that salvation would be available to non Jews. We are bearers of this greatness and commissioned to share it, not hoard it. When we first give our lives to Christ, we are burdened with the great necessity of sharing this hope with everyone. We see every moment an opportunity to make a difference for eternity, but then life goes on. We get busy and that burden seems less and less important. We lose sight of eternity. This should not be. It can be exhausting, but we need to keep that urgency alive within us. We need to be intentional in everything we do, whether anyone is watching us or not. The habits we make in secret will be made obvious in public. We need to make sure that we live in a way that accurately represents God so that those who do not believe are not pushed away from Him by us. We may be the only glimpse of God they get. Every moment is practice for a more important opportunity. We need to be gracious, for this trait is specific to Christianity. It is a concept foreign to other religions. It is important that those around us experience grace so that they see how different our God is and want to follow Him. We are to be like salt to the world. Salt is used to bring out the flavor in food, though it has no real flavor in itself. Christianity is not meant to make life duller, but to give flavor to life, to add vibrancy. If we make life seem dull as a believer, then we are doing something wrong. Sin should not be the only option for a full life. In fact, life as a believer should be viewed as the best, most fulfilling way to live, but we can’t live that way if we are complacent and unintentional. Part of this “salty conduct” is preparation for witnessing and defense of the Gospel. Those are not only reserved for great men like Paul and Billy Graham. It is for all of us. Unfortunately, most of us are not ready because we do not live wisely, making the most of our time. We have lost our saltiness.

How do you conduct yourself? Have you become complacent and slack? Have you lost your saltiness? Do you have eternity in view in every day life? Ask God to bring to life that flame that once burned bright. See every moment as an opportunity to train for the moments that matter most.

 

I apologize, today should have been another prayer point, but at 3am I forgot what day it was...I will do the prayer point tomorrow.

 

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