How the Christian can open doors for sharing the gospel effectively

By Dean Collins

If you are going to be successful in almost any endeavor, you must continue steadfastly in the pursuit. You might stumble onto a lucky break here or there, but perseverance is the greater predictor of success. It’s true for the athlete as well as with most professionals in other areas; quality repetitions with intentionality are the secret to quality performance in the game and on stage.

Continue steadfastly

As Paul begins to wrap up Colossians he tells the believers to continue steadfastly in prayer. The assumption is that believers pray. Paul reminds the church that prayer isn’t a one-and-done exercise. It’s not just a Sunday and mealtime experience, either. Paul directed the church to pray regularly and to always be looking for God at work. Whenever we see his work, our prayers should shift to thanksgiving.

Paul indicated that the prayers are not just for ourselves but also for others. Paul asked the church at Colossae to pray for him and specifically that God would open doors where he could share God’s Word with others. He added that his desire was that his words be clear so that any listener would understand.

I’ve noticed that it is tempting to try to impress with our words. It seems we sometimes have the mistaken idea that the bigger our vocabulary and the more we can show how much we know, the more impressed others might be with us. These were not Paul’s concerns. He wanted the listener to clearly understand the message of Christ and nothing more. This approach will work in our communication about Jesus and, frankly, with our communication about most anything.

Walk wisely

Having instructed the church to pray and speak clearly, Paul then turned to a couple of last instructions: Walk in wisdom toward nonbelievers and use your time wisely. To walk in wisdom toward non-Christians is especially relevant in current culture. The tendency of some Christians is simply to be loud and angry toward non-Christians as if that will either welcome them in or get rid of them so we don’t have to think about them or our responsibility to them as people loved by God.

If we evaluate the best use of our time, we might find that taking time to get to know another person should precede our teaching or correcting of their life choices.

Speak kindly

Paul gives one final instruction in this section. Make sure our communication is always gracious and is seasoned with salt. The common use of salt at the time was the preservation of meat. In this case, the implication is that if I am gracious and kind in my communication, I might preserve a relationship that will allow me to show God’s love.

If we go back to where we started, then we see a cycle emerging. Pray regularly and with intention. Pray for opportunities to share God’s love with those inside the church and those outside of faith. Pray for other believers to do the same. Don’t try to impress others with your words but rather practice being clear in what you say. Walk toward non-Christians with love and kindness, both in action and speech, and build relationships. These relationships allow more time to share God’s love. And then start over with the same method each day.

Praying for wisdom and for our words to be clear and kind will go a long way in developing relationships that will open doors for the gospel to advance and lives to be transformed.

Your time with God’s Word
Colossians‬ ‭4:2-6‬ ‭ESV

Photo by Daniel Gregoire on Unsplash

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