No Excuses
Colossians 4:6 Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.
We can get grumpy for all sorts of reasons – a lack of sleep, low blood sugar, hunger, stress, unresolved anger, injustice, conflict. Hey, even bad weather can make us grumpy. And when you’re grumpy, the words that tumble out of your mouth … well, they can be pretty ugly.
Have you ever had someone lash out at you out of nowhere? Those words stung, so you took it personally – how could you not? And it’s not something that’s easily forgotten either. In fact, it can change the whole relationship permanently. And if you’ll let it, it’ll change how you see yourself; diminishing your sense of worth, pummelling your self-esteem.
All that … when really, those harsh words were nothing more than a symptom of the grumpiness going on inside that other person. That’s pretty sad, really, when you look at it that way.
Colossians 4:6 Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person. (ESV)
That word gracious, there, means speech that affords joy, pleasure, good will, loving-kindness … kind of like a free gift. And just in case we didn’t get it the first time, it should be seasoned with salt. Salt always adds to the flavour, it never takes away. It improves the cooking, it doesn’t detract from it.
So, as the team at PowerOfPurity.org put it recently, “A bad mood is never an excuse to use cruel words. Never. Moods pass, but cruel words wound the soul.” So …
Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.
That’s God’s Word. Fresh … for you … today.
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