Colossians 4:6 Let your speech be alway with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man.
“Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless & pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation.”
Phil 2:14
Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time, 1 Peter 5:7
Do you ever have one of those weeks when it seems anything you say on a given subject hits the fan? Yeah, I had one of those weeks over Christmas believe it or not. Heading into upset, bothered and distraught prayer got met with several results.
1) A hug, both in that 360 degree warmth that only God is capable of, and also in the form of snow falling at that very moment of prayer! The knowledge that God was telling me He had the situation under control was reassuring. I still found myself a bit stressed, but not as much as before that prayer session.
2) The third result came the afternoon of Christmas Day, as prayer time revealed the message of humility. I knew then, that although I’d already put much thought and effort into the words that had hit the fan, that I needed to humble myself and apologize for the way those words were received and the resulting damage they’d done.
Boxing Day came and the week progressed, and the verses above were brought to my attention. If you’ve read my series, “Becoming the Bride of Christ: A Personal Journey”, you’ll know that working out the concept of grace in everyday life can be a challenge for me. There are days when I don’t have a problem with it, and then there are days when I am very much that proverbial bull in the china shop no matter how much I try to string words together. Needless to say, seeing this verse came as a humbling exhortation yet again. I almost felt rebuke, as if I hadn’t tried hard enough.
But then the next verse came to me. Attempts at trying to clarify what I’d said were taken by others as arguing the point instead of clarification. As Children of God we are not to be arguing with each other, but seeking to build each other up.
The answer is found in the final verse that came to me tonight. I must seek to humble myself before God and others to a greater degree than I have to this point. If that comes as a shock to some of you, then let it be known that there is always room for continued growth in the life of the follower of Christ. I have this annoying habit of falling off pedestals that others put me on, thinking that I will never behave this way or that way. Unfortunately, I am quite human still, even with the distance in this journey I have covered. The reminder to assume a position of humility is needed every so often, particularly with the knowledge that even my best efforts at communication can fail so easily.
It is my prayer that one day, I will be able to show grace in ALL circumstances, that one day Colossians 4:6 will be true every time I open my mouth or put fingers on the keyboard, not just most of the time, or part of the time, but all the time. That’s quite a thought to consider as we head toward 2014.
