More Salt, Please

“Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.” -Colossians 4:6 NIV
 
Sometimes I think we live in a backwards-world when it comes to words today.  “That’s bad” can mean it’s really awesome, and “That’s sick!” means it is anything but.  This text has an expression that is the opposite of our common usage as well.  Currently, when we refer to someone as “salty” it means they are jealous, bitter, angry or upset.  However, in this text, we are encouraged for our words to be “salty.”
 
Understand that in Paul’s day there were many uses for salt that were helpful.  It served not only a flavoring but a preservative, even a purifier. Salt was so helpful and valuable that it was used as currency in multiple cultures at that time.
 
Here we are told that our conversations must have a “seasoned with salt” nature to them.  Few things alter the nature of a relationship as powerfully as our words.  That is why Paul says our words need to be filled with a salty grace. A working definition of grace is to provide what is needed, more than what is deserved. 

This week, if you are in a conversation and what the person says to you makes you feel “Salty” and you want to lash back with what they deserve, decide instead to guide your words with grace. This may preserve and even rescue the one you are speaking to. 
 
This sounds so great when we read it on paper, but we both know it is so tough to do in the moment.  One thing we can do to help ourselves is to prepare in prayer in advance of our day.  Please pray this prayer with me today.
 
Lord today, whatever conversations I get into, please help me to use words filled with grace and give the person I am talking to what they need more than what they deserve.  Let my words be like salt, helping to preserve, purify, and even make the situation “taste better” to everyone involved.  I ask this in Jesus’s name, Amen.

By: Pastor Todd Crofford