Live wisely among those who are not believers, and make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be gracious and attractive so that you will have the right response for everyone.
~ Colossians 4:5-6 (NLT)
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winsome (n.) = sweetly or innocently charming; winning; engaging
When you're winsome, you win some...and you attract more bees with sugar than with vinegar. Paul says, don't just go out in the world and blast them with a gospel machine gun...you'll have people running for their lives! Be like an ice cream parlor, full of good things to eat, where people want to come and hang out!
(Okay, so Paul wouldn't know much about machine guns and ice cream parlors...but you get my point. :-)
No one wants to be around someone who's grouchy or in-your-face or condemning, especially if they're spouting religion. Whoa -- run the other way!...be afraid, very afraid...! It simply isn't palatable. It's gagging.
Paul tells us to be wise in the way we act toward those who don't believe in Jesus, making the most of every opportunity (NIV). Wisdom when living and breathing and sharing the message of Christ means that we are sensitive to those we meet, not using a cookie-cutter format to express our faith. Talking to your grandmother's roommate in the nursing home isn't going to be the same as talking to your college-age son's roommate. Completely different frames of life reference and life experience. Completely different language and thought processes. We need to learn the language and understand the life reference if we're going to speak wisely with people about Jesus.
We also need wisdom so that we don't judge those outside the faith. If you start up a conversation with a group of tattooed/pierced alternative youths at a Starbucks, and immediately throw out Scripture verses condemning their lifestyle as a way to "share the gospel", you just threw your witness in the trash. They're not going to want to have anything to do with you. Would you, if you were them?
Be winsome, my friends, to win some for the Lord. Love people without judgment. Be willing to listen to their story without mentally preparing all the Bible verses you'll slam on them as soon as they take a breath. Care about where they are in life and, at the right time, open up your story and show them how God has done a mighty work in your life. Sympathize with their humanity the way Jesus did.
Sugar, not vinegar...it's the way God made the bees, and it's the way God made the buzz of humanity.
Love,
Joelene
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