Salted Words

Do you like your food plain, or do you like a bit of salt with it? I don’t usually put much if any salt on my food, but I know some people who can’t eat anything unless they throw some salt on it. Some things just need salt or else they are not the least bit palatable. I think of dry green beans: rubbery, squeaky beans. If you throw on a bit of butter and sprinkle a tad of salt, then they start tasting better. The salt makes them much more enjoyable and pleasant.
Did you know that our speech to one another should consist of salted words? Colossians 4:6 says, “Let your speech be alway with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man.” Our words are to be “salted words!”
The first part of the verse explains that our words should always be gracious. They should not be cutting, harsh words; they should not be dirty, vulgar words; they should not be useless, pointless noise; they should be gracious words. This is what it means to be “seasoned with salt.” Instead of being nasty, distasteful, or repulsive, our words should be pleasant, enjoyable, and a blessing to all who hear them.
The result is “that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man.” In other words, we ought to say the right thing at the right time to others. Sometimes a joke, as funny as it may be, is not the right thing because it’s the wrong time. Unkind or unclean words are never the right thing. Sometimes it is hard to know just what the right thing is to say. Proverbs 25:11 says, “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver.” We ought to be working toward saying the right thing at the right time.
Pray regularly that God would guard your mouth and give you wisdom and grace to say things that are pleasing to Him and gracious toward those with whom you have contact.