Let your conversation be always full in grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone. Colossians 4:6
Many years ago Jill was working with a group of young people, trying to encourage them and train to go out and share their faith. They were going to visit the coffee houses and dance halls, and she asked me to have a final word with them. I agreed.
I told these young people that they must not forget that as soon as they began to talk to people about Jesus Christ, they were dabbling with eternal souls. They would be messing with eternal issues, and they were going to engage the spiritual forces of darkness. Their faces dropped quite dramatically as I explained all this.
My wife had a little talk with me afterwards. "I took about four weeks pumping up these kids, and it takes you about five minutes to stick a pin in them," she said. "All I did was to remind them that if they go out seeking to minister to people on any other basis than in the anointing of the Holy Spirit, anticipating his intervention through the power of God, they are going to fail," I replied.
She agreed with my theology, but not with my methods. For anyone to speak adequately the message of Christ; to know what to say it in a way that will be understandable and will elicit a favorable response, demands more intelligence than the sum of every congregation in the world. It requires that God, by his spirit, speak his word through people's lips, under the anointing of the Holy Spirit and with his own brand of miracles. That is what Paul is saying here.
He put in every practical term. "Let your conversation be always full in Grace. Don't expect people to listen if at times your mouth is as dirty and filthy as the rest of them. Make sure that what you say is "seasoned with salt"," that it is appetizing and interesting, has a tang to it, captures their imagination, and holds their attention. And ask God to show you ''how to answer everyone.''
That doesn't mean you must have all the answers. It does mean that you're ready to hear their questions and then respond as best you're able.
You say, "Stuart, this makes me feel so inadequate!" I hope it does. If you feel adequate in your abilities, you'll go out bumping around in your own power and make an absolute mess of things. Make sure you are inadequate, then get on your knees and pray for yourself and for others. Say, "God intervene in my life and in their lives so that we might become adequate witnesses of Jesus Christ."
But be prepared for the surprises. You never know how he might answer.
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