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.

Colossians 4:5-6 (ESV)

 

A healthy faith in Christ is both personal and communal.

As Christians, we celebrate our faith not just within the four walls of our church, but we also express our faith to those within our spheres of influence. It is more than just proclaiming the gospel when we express our faith. It is about building transformative friendship in which we can live out the gospel by demonstrating Jesus' love and compassion.

Jesus' vision for His church is for us to use the authority and power He has given us to impact lives and bring transformation.

We live in a society where many people have misconceptions about Christianity and Christians. We cannot blame them for their negative opinions since some actions and attitudes of Christians can be stumbling blocks and lose us the opportunity to have in-depth conversations about our faith. While we cannot be responsible for the damage caused by the failures of other Christians, we can be responsible for our faith and how we live it in such a way that others wonder what makes us different and distinctive.

People are not interested in how much we know until they see how much we care about them. They will believe the gospel for themselves if they witness the difference it has made in you.

The Apostle Paul exhorts us to be wise in the way when we engage with those outside our community. We are to make use of every opportunity to be polite and kind in all we say, and to bring out the best in people, rather than put them down or belittle them. When there is an imbalance between "grace" and "salt" in our words, we are either too soft or too harsh, never exactly right. We can speak the truth without being rude and act appropriately without projecting a judgemental attitude if we use the right amount of “grace” and “salt”.

When you live to glorify Jesus, His Spirit will powerfully move you to transform the lives of others.