No time to go salt free...
As I was speaking about controlling the tongue (from James 3) recently, I reminded people of the incredible power of the tongue to cause great damage.
My closing challenge was to apply Colossians 4:6 this week, so I'll offer it to you too. "Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person."
As you head into a new week, plan to keep the thought of "gracious and nicely seasoned" in your mind as you speak. You will be challenged as you head off to work. People will annoy you. Circumstances will be frustrating. You will have plenty of reasons to be upset. But take on the challenge to have ALL of your speech this week be gracious and seasoned with salt.
Some people are on a salt-free diet. It adversely affects their blood pressure, or some other aspect of their health, so they have minimized or cut salt out of their diet. I see low salt chips or salt free crackers. How in the world can a Saltine be salt-free? To each their own. Food without any salt is tasteless to me. In New Testament days salt was a preservative that kept things from becoming foul.
When it comes to our speech, I want to challenge you to be sure there is plenty of salt in your vocabulary to be sure it doesn't become sour or foul.
Of course, I'm not just talking about a foul mouth laced with curse words or vulgar language. I'm talking about critical words or harsh words or words that cause harm to a person's spirit. These all cause great damage to people and should be avoided at all costs.
You have the power with your words to encourage or discourage someone this week. You can lift them up or tear them down. You can scar them or heal them. What will it be? "The tongue of the wise brings healing..." (Proverbs 12:18, ESV)
Have a great week.
My closing challenge was to apply Colossians 4:6 this week, so I'll offer it to you too. "Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person."
As you head into a new week, plan to keep the thought of "gracious and nicely seasoned" in your mind as you speak. You will be challenged as you head off to work. People will annoy you. Circumstances will be frustrating. You will have plenty of reasons to be upset. But take on the challenge to have ALL of your speech this week be gracious and seasoned with salt.
Some people are on a salt-free diet. It adversely affects their blood pressure, or some other aspect of their health, so they have minimized or cut salt out of their diet. I see low salt chips or salt free crackers. How in the world can a Saltine be salt-free? To each their own. Food without any salt is tasteless to me. In New Testament days salt was a preservative that kept things from becoming foul.
When it comes to our speech, I want to challenge you to be sure there is plenty of salt in your vocabulary to be sure it doesn't become sour or foul.
Of course, I'm not just talking about a foul mouth laced with curse words or vulgar language. I'm talking about critical words or harsh words or words that cause harm to a person's spirit. These all cause great damage to people and should be avoided at all costs.
You have the power with your words to encourage or discourage someone this week. You can lift them up or tear them down. You can scar them or heal them. What will it be? "The tongue of the wise brings healing..." (Proverbs 12:18, ESV)
Have a great week.
Thank you for this. Challenge accepted. :)
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