Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you
ought to answer every man (Colossians 4:6).
Many foods just taste better with salt. At least I think
most of us would agree that they do. For there are so many things that just seem so bland
without it. I personally am a fond lover of salt. Salt brings out a flavor that makes the
mouth water and the taste-buds tingle. Its very pleasing and gives most of us a physical
response just thinking about what it may do to a steak or greenbeans or potatoes or
whatever it is you like. And just as much as salt brings about certain responses within us
(being that which goes into the mouth), so also we might find it interesting to see how
that which comes out of our mouths (namely our speech) can also bring about certain
similar responses.
Let us assume that each of us are Christians, serious in our devotion to Christ and His
kingdom. Let us go further to say that we have grown some in the Lord and have been
influenced by His Spirit, having our thinking being renewed and our hearts purified. We
come to experience a new life with the new sensations thereof. For even as we have foods
and salt that might lead to a physical response; we also find that the sensations we
experience in our new lives in Christ also bring about physical responses as well as
spiritual, emotional and intellectual. Comptemplate for a moment the feelings of joy,
peace and awe that are generated by walking with God. We often associate these things in
ways that we can see all aspects of how we are being touched. As we mature in our new life
with Christ, we are more aware of the Spirit's activity in certain areas and events of our
lives. We also become aware of our activities that the Spirit is not involved
in--activities which God can not be a part of because they are outside of His will, His
purpose or His guidelines for our lives.
With that in mind, let us consider that which comes out of the mouth and the associated
responses. If we speak well of another person's godly character or perhaps their profound
generosity, we may sense God's peace or joy as our hearts are focused on aspects that
please Him. We may feel a stronger awareness of the presence of the Holy Spirit, and a
sense that, within that moment, it is good. But let the same conversation veer off toward
another, and let what is spoken be condemning, degrading, or perhaps just possess a
negative tone, and what is sensed might be entirely different. Suddenly, the peace and joy
of God seem distant--and so does His Spirit. The wonderful salt of the conversation loses
its saltiness. The physical responses shift, and that which was once settling turns to
unsettling. We may not be sure how to describe it, but we know in our hearts that what was
good has now become bitter--our words have lost their saltiness.
In reference to us as the salt of the earth, Jesus said, "Ye are the salt of the
earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is
thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of
men" (Mt.5:13). There are words that we can speak that can be as salt. They are
soothing to the spirit and settling to the soul. They draw from the Spirit and Grace of
God and because of that, they fill us with the joy and the peace of God. And just as salt
is absorbed into the whole of what it is applied to, so also the good words we speak are
absorbed into every part of our being. What is more, the salt of our words will be good
for the listeners, but that which is not of God will be bitter to their souls--even if it
pleases their ears.
"Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall
it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden
under foot of men." What shall we say of our words, whether they be to a group, a
single person, or to ourselves? Are our words salt to our souls and theirs? Or are they
"good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men?" God
knows.
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