Col 4:5 Walk in wisdom toward those who are without, redeeming the time. (6) Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one.
To redeem the time is to seize every favorable opportunity to minister life. This is to be wise in our walk. In this evil age, every day is an evil day, full of pernicious things which destroy, spoil, and waste our time. Therefore, we must walk wisely that we may redeem the time, seizing every available opportunity. To walk in wisdom is to grasp each opportunity to redeem our time. This redeeming of the time is related to the way we speak to others. Often I must confess to the Lord my foolishness in talking to people. I did not use wisdom enough to minister life and thereby to avoid friction. Instead, I wasted time by engaging in conversation in which there was no ministry of life. We need to pray that the Lord will grant us wisdom in our contact with others. If we walk in wisdom in speaking to others, we shall redeem our time. We all have missed opportunities to minister life because we spent the time in foolish talk. Grace is Christ as our enjoyment and supply. Our speech should convey this grace to others. The word that builds up others always ministers such grace to the hearers. For our speech to be with grace means that Christ is expressed through our words. This means that our words should be the expression and utterance of Christ. Our speech should also be seasoned with salt. Salt makes things agreeable and pleasant to the taste. Speech seasoned with salt keeps us at peace with one another (Mark 9:50). If our words are with grace and are salted, they will cause things to be agreeable, and they will also arouse the proper taste in others.
Bible verses are taken from the Recovery Version of the Bible and Words of Ministry from Witness Lee, Life-study of Colossians, pp. 254-255. Both are published by Living Stream Ministry, Anaheim, CA. Please visit us at www.emanna.com. Send comments to: [email protected].
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