Right Thing – Wrong Way
Colossians 4:5-6 (New International Version)
5 Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. 6Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.
1 Thessalonians 5:22 (New International Version)
22 Avoid every kind of evil.
Instantly as I read these words, God brought to mind a very recent conversation, then another, and another, where what I said was truth, at least from my perspective, but not filtered through the soft sand of kindness. Instead the truth was propelled by the energy of underlying anger or judgment.
I am afraid that these “additions” to the truth may have actually taken away from it, leaving the listeners more focused on Truth’s unwelcome traveling companions than the message itself.
Truth, this morning’s scripture reminds me, is best accompanied by grace and sprinkled with salt, a symbol of incorruptibility and purity.
The scripture from Thessalonians, “Avoid every kind of evil,” is a reminder to me to be careful not to do the right thing in the wrong way. The right thing can so easily be weakened when done clumsily or with harshness.
Prayer: Oh patient Teacher, God, again I feel your loving rod of correction and am grateful. Your word speaks yet again into my life. I open my whole being to you, longing to be conformed to Christ’s image. Guard my lips and my heart from anger and judgment. Help me to wait for them to pass before I speak or act.
Colossians 4:5-6 (New International Version)
5 Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. 6Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.
1 Thessalonians 5:22 (New International Version)
22 Avoid every kind of evil.
Instantly as I read these words, God brought to mind a very recent conversation, then another, and another, where what I said was truth, at least from my perspective, but not filtered through the soft sand of kindness. Instead the truth was propelled by the energy of underlying anger or judgment.
I am afraid that these “additions” to the truth may have actually taken away from it, leaving the listeners more focused on Truth’s unwelcome traveling companions than the message itself.
Truth, this morning’s scripture reminds me, is best accompanied by grace and sprinkled with salt, a symbol of incorruptibility and purity.
The scripture from Thessalonians, “Avoid every kind of evil,” is a reminder to me to be careful not to do the right thing in the wrong way. The right thing can so easily be weakened when done clumsily or with harshness.
Prayer: Oh patient Teacher, God, again I feel your loving rod of correction and am grateful. Your word speaks yet again into my life. I open my whole being to you, longing to be conformed to Christ’s image. Guard my lips and my heart from anger and judgment. Help me to wait for them to pass before I speak or act.
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