Everyday people are having conversations, speaking to one another or  even speaking to themselves. We speak or communicate always. Whenever a word is spoken or any form of communication is sent across, it births an action. Actions that are birth from conversations include emotional actions and physical movements (listening, thinking, reading, intepretating or performing a task). With this, it is very important that as believers that we pay particular attention to how we communicate due to the impact it has on our lives and the lives of others which can be for the good or the bad.

In today’s devotion, the Lord wants to draw our hearts to the message that was given to the Church in Colassae written by the Apostle Paul. In this verse, Paul was speaking to the church about the grace of prayer, grace of walking in wisdom and finally stressed the grace of speech. The life of a believer is one that can be of a great blessing in the lives of others if we truly commit to living as the word of God teaches.

Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one. – Colosians 4:6

Paul says to the church in Colassae that they should let their conversations carry GRACE and to be SEASONED WITH SALT. This emphasis on the way believers ought to communicate was that we will glorify God and edify one another in the faith.

Speech with Grace

The speech with grace is one that is filled with the love of God. This is a personal conviction I had when I found myself speaking to a situation that was presented in a conversation with a group of people. It was after that conversation that it was brought to my mind that there was no grace in my speech. As I meditated on this verse, I went back to the simple meaning of grace that I have always known as the unconditional love of God towards us. Beloved when we speak, the word teaches that our words should carry this love that Christ has for us. In this manner, we find ourselves not being judgemental, gossiping or even exagerating. Our speech is one of the ways that can easily lead us astray if we do not pay careful attention to it. By their fruits ye shall know them (Matthew 7:16a). Our Lord Jesus Christ told the disciples that it is not what goes into them that defiles them but it what comes out of them (Matthew 15:11). God has been so good, loving and faithful to us, we always ought to position ourselves as fountains to pour out what is poured into our lives daily and that is God’s grace.

Speech Seasoned with Salt

We are the salt of the world, if the salt loses its taste, then it becomes useless (Matthew 5:13). The importance of the role of the salt is numerous, in our verse for today, the use of  salt is to perform one among the many uses that is to provide seasoning. This a cuilinary term and so to further break it down, this salt is to provide an enjoyable taste. The purposes why we speak or have conversations are many. We find ourselves speaking to correct behavior, provide feedback (both constructive and positive), to emphasize our point of view, to defend ourselves and many other reasons. I brought up these examples to draw our minds to how often we have found ourselves speaking for the above purposes without seasoning our speech. In moments when you have built a strong passion about what to say, we tend to speak without being mindful of how it impacts the lives of the listeners. We can hurt, destroy or even kill others with our speech. It is very important that we realize this impact and be careful to always season our speech with salt. Speech that is seasoned with salt is enjoyable, it performs that which it has been sent to do. Speech that is seasoned, heals, restores, motivates, rebukes wrongful acts and encourages righteous ways.

Dear one, I pray and hope that today’s word has ministered to you as it has ministered to me. Let’s us all continue to soak in God’s word there is so much to learn and to do to be able be a blessing in the lives of one another. Stay blessed and always let your speech carry the grace and seasoned with salt.