Salt

Seasoned with Grace 

Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.  Colossians 4:6 KJV

As I anticipate another snowstorm, I can’t help but think about the strip along my driveway where grass won’t grow. During the snowy, icy days of winter, snow removers scatter too much salt on the driveway. It then seeps into the ground as the snow melts and poisons the soil.

In biblical times, salt was used as a fertilizer, but farmers used a light dose to prevent the ground from becoming barren like the patch beside my driveway (Deuteronomy 29:23). On the other hand, when enemies invaded a country, the soldiers salted the land of a conquered city heavily, cursing it with permanent desolation (Judges 9:45).

Elisha once used salt to purify a spring (2 Kings 2:18-22). But the Salt Sea, which is also called the Dead Sea, has too much salt and doesn’t support life except for a few types of bacteria and algae that have adjusted to that harsh environment. The name Dead Sea is a translation of the Hebrew phrase Yam ha Maved, which means “Killer Sea.”

Isn’t it interesting that salt can be both beneficial and detrimental? In the Bible, it symbolizes both desolation and fruitfulness. Paul, in his letter to the Colossians, compared speech that was full of grace to something properly seasoned with salt. Unfortunately, our words can bring both desolation and fruitfulness. If our words come out too strong, they will have an unwanted effect. We may kill the people to whom we seek to bring life! Or our words can be fertilizers that help others become fruitful.

How would you characterize your words? Is your conversation seasoned with just the right amount of salt, or is it overflowing with killer Dead Sea salt? If you struggle with seasoning your speech properly, don’t think you’re the only one. We all need to continually ask God to help us season our speech with grace.

DIG DEEPER:

James also wrote about our use of words. What does he say about the tongue in James 3:2-10?

Read Romans 7:14-25. Paul described his struggle with doing what he knew was right as opposed to doing what he wanted. How did he find freedom? Who sets us free?

Read 2 Corinthians 5:17-21. What job (ministry) involving our use of words has been given to those who “are in Christ”? How can they do this?

Nancy J. Baker