I read Colossians 4:6 this morning and I have been thinking about the meaning of the verse all day. The verse offers simple wisdom, "Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you should respond to each person." All that makes sense except for the "salt" part.
After a little research, in the New Testament sense, the "salt" means that our words to one another are to be 1) a good influence, meaning, positive, and 2) words that preserve, instead of destroy, the relationship. I know in my own life, at many times, my words have not been positive nor have they preserved the relationship. And the Bible warns us of this. The Bible says that our tongue is a double-edged sword. In another text, it says that our words can bring death or life to another.
But the good news is that with our relationship with Jesus Christ, one of the greatest benefits is that we can pray for the Holy Spirit to help us at any time when we are tempted to use our words as weapons. The Enemy especially likes to use our words in terrible ways when we are tired, overwhelmed, under attack, or run down.
But we must make the conscious choice to pray every day (morning is best for this) for an extra dose of the Holy Spirit's help. I have seen this in my own life. Instead of yelling back injuring words when tempted, the Spirit has given me the patience to be silent (which is very hard for me). So, begin every day with a simple prayer, "Holy Spirit, fill me today with your gracious love for all people and when I do not personally experience love from another, fill me with an extra dose of Your patience, so that I will choose to show love in return."
And because Jesus gave us this power found only in His Spirit, we will be equipped for anything our day brings. Amen for that.
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