6 Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.
I don’t know about you, but sometimes the words that come out of my mouth are not a good reflection of Jesus. I am not even talking about foul language. I am talking about words that lack grace. Most of these are conversations lack grace because they come from a “I am better than you” stance. It might be a comment about someone’s driving, or about someone’s motives, but they almost always flow from my own insecurities or from anger about something else in life. They just happen to be a safe object on which to dump. We often say things to our spouses that are not grace-filled because we know our spouses will not leave us. We won’t lose our jobs if we speak our anger to them about our boss. If we said it to our boss, we would get fired. So we swallow at work and spill at home. But all our conversations can be conversations that draw all involved closer to Jesus. They don’t have to be preaching sessions, but they can reflect the character of Jesus. Even when we lead a conversation with negative content, it can still carry the message of caring and grace. We don’t have to be destructive with our words, even when firing someone. But that takes being mindful of our security in Jesus. Nothing can knock us out of His care. And when the big questions of life are answered, we can take a deep breath and relax, even when handling unpleasant, difficult tasks. The reason it is important to deliver every conversation with grace is that you never know when that conversation will turn to eternity. Those “what makes you different” conversations, right in the middle of difficulty can change a person’s life, but we must be ready for it. If our conversation is not grace-filled, then they probably won’t ask, and if they do, you will only be able to give the plastic, artificial answer because you are not walking in grace yourself at that moment. It is only when we are walking moment by moment in the Spirit that we can conduct our lives this way. But we must have a clean slate with God moment by moment in order to do this. What is on your slate with God that needs His erasing power? May I suggest that you allow Him to clean it right now!
The Arnold Journey 