Scripture Passage
"Ma and Pa Kettle"
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 NLT)
Observation
Ma and Pa Kettle are comic characters featured in a series of films released by Universal Pictures beginning in the late 1940s. I’d never actually seen a Ma and Pa Kettle film till the other day, but the cornball humor was a great diversion. I encourage you to track one down and give it a look-see. Make your kids watch it with you. Tell ‘em this was all you had for entertainment back in the good ol’ days.
This particular film highlighted Pa Kettle digging a well—with dynamite! I don’t mean tidy-like. I mean by lighting a stick of dynamite and tossing it randomly towards the back yard. Now, I’ve never dug a well (so I’m no expert), but here’s my guess about digging a well that way: You might reach water eventually, but not without a boatload of collateral damage!
Some believers are inclined to evangelize the way Pa Kettle dug wells. In the name of Christian witness, they’ll toss a bombshell into a conversation just to see if it’ll explode. Often it will. And sometimes, I suppose, it even “strikes water.” But in my experience, the collateral damage usually makes this approach more costly than it’s worth.
By contrast, the Holy Spirit inspired words of the Apostle Paul call for a different approach. “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 NLT).
I can’t put it any better than that! “Lord, let my conversation be ‘gracious and attractive’ so that You might be seen for who You are—gracious and attractive. Let my words—and my life—invite everyone to ‘the right response.’”
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