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14/01/2022 03:00 - 15/01/2022 02:00

"Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone" - Col 4:6 (NIV).

Food without seasoning is generally bland. To make it palatable every fine cook loves to find spices which when added to a dish bring out a certain salivating taste. Spices which are drawn from seeds, roots or dried fruit, are very helpful whenever used to flavour dishes. For those who relish a good taste, they can easily notice when a dish is quite tasteless for not being flavoured with mouth watering spices.

Now, just as with dishes, our speech can be bland too, not inviting, like a tasteless dish. There was once a couple in history who illustrates this point. When King David needed a certain favour from Nabal whom once he had helped out he instructed his men to "Say to him: ‘Long life to you! Good health to you and your household! And good health to all that is yours!" (1 Samuel 25:6). David instructed his men to use speech flavoured with grace.

Unfortunately Nabal was the kind not to notice the difference. Instead in return, "Nabal answered David’s servants, “Who is this David? Who is this son of Jesse? ...Why should I take my bread and water, and the meat I have slaughtered for my shearers, and give it to men coming from who knows where?” (vv 10-11). This was not short of insult and once the message was relayed back to David he wasted no time to mount an attack on Nabal.

What saved the day was that Nabal's wife, Abigail, knew the power of speech seasoned with grace. Upon hearing the imminent attack she hurried up to the advancing troops and bending on her knees pleaded with soothing words, "Please forgive your servant’s presumption. The Lord your God will certainly make a lasting dynasty for my lord, because you fight the Lord’s battles, and no wrongdoing will be found in you as long as you live" (vv 28).

Speech is not neutral and the words of Abigail coupled with her gifts touched the furious David who decided to pause and pull back. David said to Abigail, “Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, who has sent you today to meet me. May you be blessed for your good judgment and for keeping me from bloodshed this day and from avenging myself with my own hands" (vv 32-33).

Any of us could easily be given to the brutal tongue of Nabal which only induces wrath. However, when our speech is seasoned with grace as was with Abigail, we clearly invite favour upon our lives.

Prayer for today: Lord Father God of Abraham, maker of heaven and earth, I pray that my speech may be seasoned with grace, to experience your favour and blessing, this I pray in Jesus's name!

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  • 06/05/2024 - 07/05/2024 All day

    “Do not confirm to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is- his good, pleasing and perfect will” (Romans 12:2)

    Almost all cultivators are aware that if soils are used perpetually without rains but constantly under work they are deprived of all nutrients. So, though once productive, they lose all power to yield fresh crops as before. But so is our Christian life when we do not regularly feed our spirit life with the Word!

    In our leading verse, the Apostle Paul is urging believers to “renew” their minds rather than make them stale, lest they end up losing all power to yield fruit. But how is this done? We renew our minds by constantly reading the Word of God, for there are always insights with God speaking to us afresh. Psalm 119:104-5 says, “I gain understanding from your precepts; therefore I hate every wrong path. Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.” The Apostle Peter reminds us, “Like newborn babies hungry for milk, you should want the pure teaching that feeds your spirit. With it you can grow and be saved.” It is a beautiful illustration for any who have seen a hungry baby sucking the teats of a mother.

    Renewing our minds is also by reading about the lives of people of faith who have walked before us and their created works. The Christian faith started in the first century after Jesus was crucified and resurrected from the dead. Now over two millenniums it has produced giants of faith who have shared their walk with God through inspired teachings that are a treasure to dig into. By scouring the writings of the great saints before us, listening to their recorded sermons, songs and preaching, which these days can be found on virtual medial channels like Yu tube, reading their biographies, our faith is renewed.

    And then we also renew our faith through fellowship. When the Apostle Paul urges us, “not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching” ( Hebrews 10:25), he is reminding us that our faith cannot grow in isolation. During the Covid pandemic lockdown one bitter issue was denying Believers opportunity to meet fellow followers of Christ to share testimonies showing the work of God in their lives.

    So today, if your faith is on a low keel, or you want it to flower, one thing you can’t help doing without is “renewing” your mind. The blessings to unfold are endless.

    Prayer for today:Lord Father God of Abraham, maker of heaven and earth, what a treasure we have of your rich Word to dig into always; books around us of faith to inspire us; and believers to share our faith- may we make use of these, this I pray in Jesus’ name.

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