Try a Little Kindness

I spend a lot of mornings in coffee shops. Bible on the table, journal open, coffee going cold while I nurse it long past what the folks behind the counter probably had in mind. I am not there to eavesdrop. Nobody has to try. Coffee houses are built for it. Conversations drift like smoke from one table to the next, and if you sit still long enough you will hear more than you bargained for.

One morning I sat near a group having themselves a Bible study. They were having a fine time of it too, laughing, talking loud, arguing points of Scripture the way people do when they love something enough to fight over it. There is nothing wrong with that. I was glad to hear it, glad to see faith spilling out past the church doors and into a Starbucks on a Tuesday morning.

But the longer they talked, the sharper the edges got. Opinions hardened. A few things got said that would have sounded fine inside that little circle of believers and sounded like something else entirely to the stranger two tables over, nursing his own coffee, minding his own business, listening whether he meant to or not.

The Bible says:

“Walk in wisdom toward them that are without, redeeming the time. Let your speech be alway with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man.” Colossians 4:5-6 KJV

Who’s Listening

Paul wrote it plain enough. Walk in wisdom toward them that are without. Which is another way of saying remember who might be watching. Remember who might be listening. Remember that for some soul out there, you might be the only Bible they ever read, the only sermon they ever sit through, whether you meant to preach one or not.

That does not mean hiding what you believe. Paul never hid a thing in his life. It means saying the truth in a way that looks like the One you claim to follow. There is a difference between being bold and being hard. There is a difference between standing your ground and just liking a good fight. And there is a world of difference between winning an argument and winning somebody’s heart toward Jesus.

Speech is supposed to be seasoned with salt, Paul says, alway with grace. Not just at church, not just in the Bible study circle, but at the coffee shop, the dinner table, the job site, and especially on that phone in your pocket. It is a strange thing how easy it is to type words on a screen that would never make it past your lips if you were looking a man in the eye.

Maybe before we speak, or before we hit that little arrow that sends our words out into the world, it is worth asking a few plain questions. Does this sound like Jesus. Will it draw somebody closer to Him or just prove I have got an opinion. Am I trying to lift God up, or am I just trying to win.

Every Opportunity We’re Given

You never know who is listening. The stranger at the next table might be wrestling with his faith right now, tonight, this week. The barista might have been burned by a church once and is still nursing that wound quiet, the way you nurse a coffee gone cold. The one reading your post on Facebook, Instagram, or Tic-Tock might be wondering if Christians have any of that grace we claim to be so full of.

And maybe, just maybe, God set you down in that exact spot for that exact reason.

Paul says redeem the time, make the most of every opportunity. Sometimes that opportunity does not come with a pulpit or a rehearsed testimony behind it. Sometimes it is nothing grander than choosing kindness when you had every right to be cutting. Listening when you could have talked over somebody. Answering soft when anger would have been so much easier and felt so much more satisfying. Remembering that even your words belong to Jesus, same as everything else you have got.

Somebody is always listening.

Lord willing, what they hear from us leaves them curious about the God we serve, not looking for the nearest door.

Prayer

Father, help me remember that my words are part of my witness. Give me wisdom in what I say, grace in how I say it, and the humility to listen before I speak. Let my conversations honor You and point others toward Jesus. Help me make the most of every opportunity You place before me today. Amen.