Colossians 4:5-6

Colossians 4:5-6 – “Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time. Let your speech always be gracious . . . so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.”

Witnessing to others is rarely as simple as telling someone that God exists and them accepting Him into their heart where they stand. Minds are not easily changed, and hearts are not easily softened. Not if we try to do it ourselves, at least. Those things can only happen through God’s amazing power – so how can we help allow that to happen? I think breaking this verse down could help to understand how we can put ourselves in a position for God to work through us.


1. Be wise. (v. 5)

I’m sure it doesn’t need to be said that having a solid understanding of the Gospel is crucial to witnessing to others. Even so, walking in wisdom in this context means a lot more than just being knowledgeable of scripture. Wisdom is not just intelligence – it’s good judgement as well. It is so important that we use good judgement when witnessing to nonbelievers and that we make a genuine effort to better understand each person’s situation. One thing that I’ve become increasingly aware of is the amount of young people that have been burned by Christians in some way, shape or form. If you live in Georgia, understand that the Christian body of the South is seen as abrasive more than any other part of the country, meaning traditionalism is incorrectly paired with an underlying agenda of hatred more often among Baptists and southern Christians. Even if it is more prevalent here, it happens everywhere, and it’s not something we can afford to ignore. 


2. Be efficient. (v. 5)

Understand that the clock is working against those who wish to spread God’s word. Not only is our time running out, but countless others have less time than we do to hear about and knowingly experience the grace of God. The longer we wait to minister to others, the more opportunities are passing by us, and the more people that spend their final moments without accepting Christ into their heart. Nothing exists that is more time sensitive than spreading God’s word to those that need it.


3. Be gracious. (v. 6)

The whole point of understanding the experiences of those that we witness to is that we use that understanding to be sensitive to those experiences. Take the time to understand people and be sensitive to what they’ve been through, “so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.” For goodness’ sake, the best way to teach about God’s love is by doing it in a way that’s conducive to God’s love! If we don’t, we could very well be working against ourselves. While we should never let sensitivity compromise God’s teachings, we should always be wise as to how we share them.


We will face adversity and persecution when we share the Gospel (2 Tim. 3:12). It’s part of our mission as God’s people to overcome that for the sake of expanding His kingdom. We work against ignorance. We work against the clock. We work against those that misrepresent us. Yet we can find a way to get to the hearts of those that need God; we just can’t do it alone.


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