MEDALS OF FAITH: Living in a way that adds luster to the Gospel (Part 4 cont'd)

For all you shy lurkers out there, here's a little something more to spark an outpouring of your thoughts about the medal of gracious speech that is to "adorn, make attractive, add luster" to the Gospel in our lives:

"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).

Here's the same passage from The Message:

"Use your heads as you live and work among outsiders. Don't miss a trick. Make the most of every opportunity. Be gracious in your speech. The goal is to bring out the best in others in a conversation, not put them down, not cut them out."

Given what James says about the tongue (namely, that it "is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body...and is itself set on fire by hell"), how then does gracious speech develop in our lives?

Jesus said, "The good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth what is good; and the evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth what is evil; for his mouth speaks from that which fills his heart" (Luke 6:45).

He told the Samaritan woman at the well, "...whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life" (John 4: 14).

He declared to His hearers at the feast in Jerusalem, "He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, 'From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water'" (John 7:38).

So...the picture is that when we repent of our sins and place our faith in Christ, He takes up residence within us by His Spirit and, as a result, some radically different speech inevitably begins to flow from our mouths.

This was my experience when I came to faith as a teenager. The profanity and vulgarity that had previously marked (marred) my speech, but that I myself had been unable to control or alter, just changed. The reason was that there was a new spring bubbling in my heart, and what came out of my mouth demonstrated it. It wasn't really something I did -- it was something He did in me and through me. And others around began to notice it, and to be curious about what had happened to me. This gave me the chance to tell them about Jesus.

Now -- CAN I GET A WITNESS? Has anybody else experienced this? How, and what was the result in your life? Come on, don't be bashful...tell us about it!

MEDALS OF FAITH: Living in a way that adds luster to the Gospel (Part 4)

Gracious Speech

Once we lived in a house that received its water from a small spring, trickling from the mountainside above it. The water ran from the spring into a holding tank located just downhill from it, and was then gravity-fed further downhill through pipes that led to our faucets.

In theory, the system was ingenious. In practice, it was dismal. For one thing, the spring was seasonal and, in dry summer months, it was not uncommon to turn on the tap and get nothing. Another problem was that the holding tank was exposed to the elements and, when the temperature went below zero in that mountainous zone, the holding tank turned into a very large icecube, once again leaving us with no water for washing, cooking and bathing. Yet another problem arose when, on occasion, we neglected to chlorinate the water adequately and some foreign object (like, say, a salamander practicing his breast stroke) fouled the water. Then, we would quickly see that a little contamination in the depths of the water system affected what came out all through the house.

Hmmm...starting to sound familiar? Bring to mind anything Jesus said, or something elsewhere in the Scripture? If so, TELL US ABOUT IT!

In other words, finish this thought for me, from the Bible and from your own life. It'll help me, and lots of others too.

Waiting to hear from you,

Preston

"Jesus Is Enough"

Pictured: Nathan Parrish

Click on the link below to read this story of God's faithfulness to our family, published in the April issue of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association's DECISION magazine:

http://billygraham.org/DMag_article.asp?ArticleID=962

Perhaps someone you know will find it helpful; if so, feel free to pass it on.

Blessings,

Preston