How I talk to you affects how “I see you.”
- Colossians 4:5-6 (NIV)
Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. 6 Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.
My conversation toward you, especially toward outsiders, is to always be full of grace, seasoned with salt. Not sugar. Get it? Spicy, bringing out the flavor, not syrpy, covering over the taste with “Christian-speak.”
That’s how we are to speak to the people around us. Always.
So how does how I talk to you affect how I see you?
How does grace allow me to “see you?”
When I speak from grace, God gives me spiritual x-ray vision (from Avatar – “I see you.”) To speak from grace, I have to be aware of grace, living in grace, seeing my desperate need for grace. When I am “in grace,” then a few things happen. I speak to you as if I actually care about you. I listen to you. I don’t judge you. I am a true believer in “who am I to judge.” I value the opportunity to have conversation with you.
From grace, I am very accepting of who I am in Jesus Christ. So I don’t compete. I am not afraid of you, or jealous of you so I don’t see the need to try to whittle you down to my size. I don’t try to impress you. I don’t draw on my own resources to build my self-esteem and construct who I am. I let God do the talking, teach me who I am, how much he cares for me and loves me, how strong he is.
So I don’t have to fend for myself; God does it all, even heals my wounds from relationships gone bad.
Then …
Then, not always, but often, you see something amazing. You see Jesus Christ in me. A clay jar that once was broken and very dirty, but now is under the care of the Master Craftsman.
You see God. I mean, it’s still me standing there, but you see something more, a glimpse, a wisp, a reflection of forever. God has definitely joined our conversation.
It must be those words.
And this feeling? Hope? No way! Thought that was long ago buried in a sea of disillusionment, but now you wonder if maybe I can answer your question, the one that’s always bounding around, often below the surface of your consciousness, teasing, sometimes tormenting, but there nonetheless – Is there more to life?
And for the first time in a long time, you do have hope.
And I am better able to “know how to answer” because I see through the defenses you have erected to keep out the pain and disillusionment, the facade you constructed to keep me from the danger of knowing you has already crumbled.
And you let the walls fall because you realize I am not your competitor or your enemy, that in the name of Jesus, I am helper and friend.
Lyrics from “Healing Begins” by 10th Avenue North
So you thought you had to keep this up, All the work that you do
So we think that you’re good, And you can’t believe it’s not enough
All the walls you built up, Are just glass on the outside
So let ’em fall down, There’s freedom waiting in the sound
When you let your walls fall to the ground, We’re here now
This is where the healing begins, oh, This is where the healing starts
When you come to where you’re broken within, The light meets the dark
The light meets the dark
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Speaking from grace, my friends. This is where the healing begins. The walls come down when grace floods the room.
