Day 287.
Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time. Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person. (Colossians 4:5, 6 ESV)
Gracious and salty, that should be the way your speech is described. Paul writes this in th context of sharing the gospel with people. To do so you must be wise in the way you spend your time. You can undo much of your conversations with a person in winning them to Jesus with poor choices, which point to hypocrisy. If you don’t live like what your are saying is true, how can you expect others to believe you? So be wise, and when you speak, be gracious. This is a huge challenge when your mind is on looking out for yourself rather than others. To season your speech with salt simply means to use your words in the same way salt was used in Paul’s day (and still is though we are often unaware of it). Salt’s most important use was as a preserving agent. Refrigeration was non-existent so salt was used to cure fresh meats so they would last longer. Salt kept things from rotting. So your speech should keep others from rotting. Too often our speech is used to harm others instead of preserve others.
The time to show a difference between you and someone who does not believe in Jesus is when things are hard or someone hurts you. How do you talk to people who hurt you?
Ask God to remind you how much you have been forgiven and to help you see people as Jesus sees them so that your speech might be gracious and salty.
McCheyne’s Bible Reading Plan: 1 Kings 17, Co 4, Ez 47, Ps 38
I don’t , I just walk away 75% of the time.