Salt and Light in Conversation - Colossians 4:5-6

"Seasoned with salt, speak always with grace."

Family Discussion:

• Why do so many Christians dread witnessing? Do you think it's possible that you go about it in the wrong way?
• What are some ways that we can salt a conversation spiritually?
• How can you entertain thoughts that are "salty" with that person?

Transcription:

00:04 Man, I love to cook. I really love cooking when I'm out there on the grill. But the most important part and the most fun part is marinating and preparing, especially when I'm cooking wild game on the grill and salting it up and peppering it up. Paul's got a lot to say about salt, and I'll tell you why in a minute. In Colossians 4:5-6, if there's somebody in your life that you've got a problem with or if there's somebody you'd love to see change, check this out. He says: "conduct yourself with wisdom toward outsiders, always making the most of the opportunity. Let your speech always be with grace as though seasoned with salt so that you'll know how to respond to each person." And you've probably heard this before, but in that little verse in Matthew Chapter 5, it says: "You're the salt. You're the salt of the world, you're the light of the world." And I think the reason scripture uses salt a lot because salt makes it tasty and also salt makes you thirsty. Let your speech be with salt. What's he talking about? Seasoned with salt, speech always with grace.

01:24 It was just a week ago, I got a phone call from a neighbor and that neighbor was so mad, just mad about my dog and was just threatening to take the dog off so that I'd never see the dog again. I kind of got a little bit hurt, especially when you know how cool my dog is. So what we did was we just cooked a Turkey and got a pumpkin pie and a couple of dozen cookies and took them over there and just left them on his front porch and we didn't even sign it. Well, I called him a couple of days later. My dog had gotten away again and we had one of the greatest, most friendly conversations in the world. He knew who brought him that turkey. He knew, he brought him that pie without even saying anything, and salted our friendship. We're going to be friends for life. And he was, he was cool about my dog. It's amazing when you season your speech with salt.

02:18 I like to play golf and there's this golf pro, and he had nothing in his background about Christ. But I started praying for the guy. For three years, I started just seasoning it with salt and just loving on the guy and just finding ways behind his back just to kind of serve him and to befriend him. And then one day I went to him and here's the greatest salts you can use on somebody who needs to know Christ. I just went to him and said, "how can I begin to pray for you?" And you know what, he gave me some things to pray for. Later, he wanted to get married and so he wanted me to do the wedding. And I actually, in the counseling before the wedding, I got to lead not only him to Christ, but I got to lead his wife back into a relationship with Christ.

03:02 My daddy would literally almost every morning would write little love notes to my mom on a little yellow sticky pad and he would place them on the kitchen counter where when she would go out to work and she'd have her first cup of coffee, that little love note from my dad who had already left, would be on the counter for her. I mean, no wonder they stayed married 66 years. No wonder I'm getting to disciple, this golf pro now. No wonder this neighbor over here and I are going to become friends. Let your speech be with salt. Who in your life are you having problems with? You know, what kind of conflicts are you having or is there somebody in your life that you'd love to see change? Is there somebody in your life that you would love it if they could come to know Christ? And they may even be an agnostic. They may be even picking on you because of your faith. Well, you think of ways to put the salts shaker on them, and watch God change that relationship.

04:04 Here's some questions for today. Why do so many Christians dread witnessing? Do you think it's possible that you go about it in the wrong way? What are some ways that we can salt a conversation spiritually, and even in entertainment stuff, what a great opportunity to witness. Oh, you know, what are some kind of conversational opportunities you can have in witnessing entertainment, sports talk, politics, economics, hobbies instead of seasoning with crashing our opinions. How can you entertain and entertain thoughts that are salty with that person? And here's the thought for the day. If a friend asks you to go to some R-rated slash-em-up nudity movie, write a little paragraph that you would share with that friend and, and how you might, witness to him your faith in Christ, even over something as difficult as that, and then discuss it with someone in your home and watch what happens with you in that frame in that relationship.