This is Our Story and We’re Sticking to It

by Rhonda Rhea

“Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us,” 2 Corinthians 5:20 ESV.

“Ya know, we’ve had that same flooring in the guest bathroom for a long time anyway, right?”

My husband gets a look of fear and dread when I start a conversation like that. But that morning I had been picking up a couple of towels in the guest bath when—and this was concerning—the towels refused me. I could not pick them up! I tugged. They tugged back.

I put some real muscle into it and finally won the tug of war. That’s when I discovered someone had knocked over one of the girls’ jar of leg wax. The stuff may have looked like peanut butter, but oh my, it so wasn’t. It must’ve spilled onto the floor during some point of semi-liquidity, just hidden enough by the bathroom cabinet to get lost under those two towels. That consistency of semi-liquidity in leg wax lasts around .03 seconds. So by the time I found the mess a couple of days later, we were looking at a serious…um…“waxident.” The towels were ridiculously glued to the wax and the wax was even more ridiculously glued to the floor.

I warned my husband that whatever tool he used to get the wax up, he’d better be ready to kiss it goodbye. Because there’s some weird science involved in leg wax. Whatever it takes to give a gal smooth legs? It will also keep shields intact through a rocket’s atmospheric reentry. Does. Not. Come. Off. Of anything. Apparently, my warning wasn’t timely enough. I later found his putty knife in the trash.

There’s a life-giving message to which Jesus-followers are called to adhere—in the stickiest way. Paul said, “Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person” (Colossians 4:6, ESV). My personal goal? To be extra salty, extra sticky. Sounds a bit peanut-buttery. And while that’s delish, that’s not even close to what I’m after. My goal is to speak words of grace—so full of Jesus and so packed full of flavor that those words make outsiders thirsty for Him. The verse right before it instructs us to “Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time” (Colossians 4:5, ESV).

So how can we walk in wisdom and make the best use of our time here? The verses just before give us a great rundown: “Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving. At the same time, pray also for us, that God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ, on account of which I am in prison—that I may make it clear, which is how I ought to speak” (Colossians 4:2-4, ESV). Praying faithfully and thankfully, asking and watching for open doors to share His Gospel—making that Gospel clear. If we want to follow Paul’s example, that’s exactly how we ought to speak.

I love it that the Greek word for “ought” here is dei, which means “under compulsion.” This Gospel message is so vital—so very binding—that it should stick on our every word. Talk about waxing eloquent!

Oh, how I want to be quick to tell. May His Gospel be beautifully—even ridiculously—glued to my speech. The clear Gospel. The complete Gospel. The whole ball of wax.

About the author: Rhonda Rhea is a TV personality for Christian Television Network and a humor columnist for great magazines such as HomeLife, Leading Hearts, The Pathway and many more. She is the author of 12 books, including Fix-Her-Upper, co-authored with Beth Duewel, and a hilarious novel, Turtles in the Road, co-authored with her daughter, Kaley Rhea. Rhonda and Kaley are also excited to be teaming up with Bridges TV host, Monica Schmelter, for a new book and TV series titled, Messy to Meaningful—Lessons from the Junk Drawer. Rhonda enjoys speaking at conferences and events from coast to coast and serves as a consultant for Bold Vision Books. She lives near St. Louis with her pastor/hubs and has five grown children. You can read more from Rhonda on her website or Facebook page.

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