“Livin’ Large is experiencing the new life we have in Christ. It is living the Christian life in the power of the Holy Spirit and it is practicing (Ephesians 4-6) our position (Ephesians 1-3).”
Colossians 4:5-6
5 Conduct yourselves with wisdom toward outsiders, making the most of the opportunity. 6 Let your speech always be with grace, as though seasoned with salt, so that you will know how you should respond to each person.
This exhortation from the Apostle Paul is a parallel passage to the call to live wisely in Ephesians 5. Here the application of wisdom is to our relationship with “outsiders”. Paul’s reference is to those outside the church. This is a great passage illustrating how to be effective witnesses for Jesus Christ.
First of all we need to live with wisdom. We need to think about our relationships, our decisions, our actions and our influence for Christ. We have the privilege of being the salt and light of Christ. We may be the only true Christian that an unsaved person meets and we need wisdom to graciously, truthfully and authentically represent Jesus Christ.
Secondly we need to make the most of every opportunity. The idea is that there are critical moments of opportunity in our witness for Jesus Christ; moments where a person is open to the gospel, moments where it is timely to speak up for Christ, moments where our example and our service may be decisive in pointing someone to Jesus. These are opportunities for us to redeem for Christ’s sake.
The final aspect of conducting ourselves with wisdom toward outsiders is through our speech. Our words are to continuously be seasoned with grace. The gospel that saves is a gospel of grace. Words that encourage are words of grace. The reality of Jesus and His message is both truth and grace. With grace we are to respond to each person that God brings into our sphere of influence.
Colossians 4:5-6 packs a strong message concerning our witness for Christ. The bottom line is that we are to be people who live wisely for Christ. Ask God to give you His wisdom about your relational influence for Christ. Pray to have eyes that see all the opportunities and relationships where you can be a gospel witness. Practice grace in all your words so that you know how to respond to each person. Conducting ourselves with wisdom is living wisely. Living wisely is Livin’ Large!