Have you ever wished there was a recall button for our words? I know I have. One of the things that tells me, though, is that I need to process before responding. While it’s not a command, it’s an ideal lifestyle shift. Consider Today’s Holy Nougat.
Colossians 4:6 NIV
[6] Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.
Gracious & Seasoned
Recently, I have tried to reduce my salt intake. A noble aspiration, I tell you, when, for all intents and purposes, salt is a core ingredient in all savoury food in my culture. Back then, it was not only necessary for adding flavour to food. It was vital to preserve the shelf life of meat and protect it from spoiling (or, from further spoiling) in contexts where refrigeration was a luxury.
Paul’s words, therefore, invite us to ensure that in any conversation (two, or multi-way communication), our words add flavour … enhancing, preserving, and protecting. Oy!
Self-Check
What value do our words add to the conversations we’re engaged in? Are they salted or salt free?
Application
In the original text, the Word used for conversation could actually refer to conversation, speech, doctrine, words, or message. That actually broadens ‘conversation’ to refer to our overall lifestyle. Whereas the root refers to what is spoken, Y’shua’s admonition in Luke 6:45, ‘out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks’ tells us that the words originated somewhere before being expressed. Oy. I know that gives me pause.
Salted conversation, therefore, relates to a lifestyle that uplifts rather than destroys. That includes what we say about ourselves to ourselves and to others.
We also note that Paul precedes the addition of salt with grace. Most packaged foods list ingredients in order of quantity. Thus, the base ingredient is listed first, even if it is the final addition to a recipe. When applied to our cooking analogy, we realize that our conversation ought to have heavy doses of graciousness chariti. Since we can only control our words and lifestyle, graciousness must emanate from us into all we do and say.
Now, chariti or charis refers to favour, kindness, grace, or a blessing. It could be that we go overboard and walk around saying, ‘bless you’ all the time. But I think we all know that that wasn’t quite the blessing that Paul referred to. Rather, he’s stating that kindness is the baseline for our messages, speeches, words, and our conversations to and with others.
Siblings, as I type, I’m hearing that Still, Small Voice saying, don’t forget about worry. As I listen further, I sense that God is saying that a gracious, salted lifestyle does not leave room for worry because worry neither adds value, enhances, nor protects. May we find worth in that addendum.
When our lifestyle is gracious and salted, the impact ought to be such that others wish to know more about us and the Source of our positivity.
Point to Ponder
As of today, if we haven’t already done so, let us aspire toward gracious, salted lifestyles.
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May all we seek be found in Christ
