How to Preserve Your Relationships

PRAY OVER THIS

“Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one.”

Colossians 4:6

 

PONDER THIS

Salt has many different purposes. One is adding taste to food. And grace adds flavor to speech. Salt is a preservative, and speech that issues out of the nature of grace will preserve relationships. “Let your speech always be with grace.” Do you know what grace is? Grace is not giving people what they deserve; grace is giving them what they need. You say, “My wife doesn’t deserve that kind of speech,” or “My husband doesn’t deserve those words,” but that’s more reason to speak with grace because the other person needs it.

Do you know why we can’t be intimate? Because we’re afraid to expose ourselves. We’re afraid we’ll get criticized. If I expose my inadequacy, then I’m afraid I won’t be accepted. Out of acceptance grows trust. And then out of trust, there comes intimacy. And so, you see, intimacy can only grow where there is a place of safety. Grace gives space for safety, and it builds bridges instead of tearing them down.

When has someone extended grace to you when you did not deserve it?

What would it look like to extend grace to the people around you? What makes that difficult?

PRACTICE THIS

Consider a recent conflict you were in. How did you act at that moment? How might you have responded more graciously?

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

You Can Control Your Speech

BIBLE MEDITATION

“If anyone among you thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one’s religion is useless” James 1:26 

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT

We must watch what we say because one word builds upon another, and it can get worse—you’ll have the snowball effect.

You say, “Well, I can't control it.” You're a liar. You can control it, and I can prove it. For example, sometimes a husband and wife are just snarling, fighting, snapping down each other’s throat when right then the phone rings. They answer so sweetly, “H-e-l-l-o.”

You can control it. And you'd better learn to control it. If you don't, you're going to be out of control.

ACTION POINT

This week, memorize Proverbs 29:20: “Do you see a man hasty in his words? There is more hope for a fool than for him.”

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers