LET OUR SPEECH BE WITH GRACE AND SEASONED WITH SALT

Let our speech be with grace and seasoned with salt


The Apostle Paul just briefly touches on the subject of employees and employers but more specifically the boss is to pay their worker/workers what he - she - they deserve because the earthly head/boss has a master in heaven and His name is Jesus Christ. Of course this does not apply if you are an unbeliever in Jesus Christ because the Son of God is not your master. You will still be blessed if you follow this biblical principal but I would encourage you to read the rest of the article.

We are commanded to continue in prayer which by the way is a discipline with the spirit of thanksgiving. Notice Paul keeps writing about thanksgiving. I think he is trying to tell us something about our hearts and God. He also desired the Colossians to pray for his ministry team so that God would open up a door of utterance for the purpose of speaking the mystery of Christ because we can never forget that Paul was in chains. He always wanted to make manifest the gospel of Jesus Christ.

The Apostle says to walk in wisdom toward them that do not have this gift from God probably to be a good witness for our Savior. We desire people to step forward and come to know the Lord because of our conduct. If we truly have wisdom from God our speech and behavior will be righteous and in essence we will be pointing to the Person of Jesus Christ. This is not the only reason we are on the earth but it is the primary call especially in light of the fact that time is short. In fact they are the last three words in verse five which says redeeming the time. God only gives us so much of this precious commodity so we should be diligent with our time,talents and treasures because the midnight hour is fast approaching when we will not be able to work in this dispensation of time. Once the rapture of the church takes place we will no longer be able to labor for the Lord in this age of grace on earth. We will be giving assignments in heaven but that is a whole different subject.

Then the last verse talks about our speech being with grace which tells me that our conversation should always be gracious which really does fit in with the Apostle always going back to this point that we are to have a grateful spirit to God. Paul goes deeper by saying that our speech is always to be seasoned with salt but the purpose is that we may know how to answer every man. Let me just quote the original text so you can read the passage and perhaps make reference to it in this particular study of the Bible.

(1) "Masters, give unto your servants that which is just and equal; knowing that ye also have a Master in heaven. (2) Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving; (3) Withal praying also for us, that God would open unto us a door of utterance, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in bonds: (4) That I may make it manifest, as I ought to speak. (5) Walk in wisdom toward them that are without, redeeming the time. (6) Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man." Colossians 4:1 - 6.

To sum these verses up Paul continues his account on the duty of masters/employers. He encourages us to pray but insists that this is our duty as Christians. Maybe we should give ourselves an honest evaluation every night on several realities in our life but one of them should  be our prayer life.

The Apostle proceeds with the responsibility of masters/employers to their servants/employees. They are supposed to be fair and in no way cheat their servants out of anything; therefore, the implication is to go the extra mile for a good servant/employee. I am trying to write this in our modern day language because the word "Servant" is almost never used but that is who we are in relation to God and our employer.

If you are an employer justice, equity and kindness would be three good words to remember because your master in heaven who is Jesus Christ gives you the same treatment. The first thing you need to do is have control over yourself and remember that responsibility and accountability to God is always a reality in your life whether you realize this truth or not --- especially in the judgment seat of Jesus Christ. We are all going to have to give an account of our life as Christians at the Bema Seat. There is another judgment for unbelievers but that is a whole different subject.

One way we could look at this is deal with your employees as we would desire God to deal with us as His children. We are all servants of Jesus Christ and are equally accountable to Him. When I say "All" I mean those who accepted Jesus Christ into their hearts as Savior and Lord.

Paul writes about continuing in prayer and we all proactively look for opportunities when it comes to intercession at the right time frames during the course of the day but always with the spirit of thanksgiving. Most Bible teachers do not impart this biblical principle but anything we intercede for should be done with the heart of thanking God.

It is interesting that Paul says praying also for us which means it is a good thing to intercede for your minister. This should be from our hearts and always be done before the throne of grace. I should make a point in that we are allowed to pray for ourselves but not with pride. Paul specifically desired them to pray for him to have an opportunity/opportunities to preach the gospel with ability and courage in the power of Jesus Christ. Remember he was in prison so all things are possible through Jesus Christ. I also believe Paul wanted prayer so he would not fall into discouragement because the Apostle was going through a period of suffering in his life.

Then Paul says that I may make it manifest, as I ought to speak. He prayed this for them and Paul desired this in return. In simple terms the Apostle wanted the right words to come out of his mouth. Paul already knew how to do this very well and yet by his own confession he still asked for prayer.

Paul wanted them precisely to conduct themselves in the proper manner with unbelievers that did not put their faith in Jesus Christ.  He gets more specific in verses five and six on how to do this in practice. The tone of what the Apostle was trying to portray is do not hurt anyone and be careful that you do not fall into offense through their responses. If we injure an unbeliever this increases their prejudices against them putting their faith in Jesus Christ.

Paul also talks about redeeming the time of looking for opportunities to do something good for them or walking in your faith for Jesus Christ. If we live wrong then they have an excuse to say our faith in the Son of God is false. I have seen this much in my life and feel quite helpless when I listen to the words of people that did not accept Jesus Christ into their hearts.

When the Apostle Paul says let your speech always be with grace a savory conversation that is seasonable. This ultimately points to the Person of Jesus Christ. This is also a spiritually constructive reality that God would desire to observe from heaven a little/lot more often if you know what I mean.

We should also as Christians season our words with salt. Grace is the salt which seasons our conversation and it causes our words to be rich in Jesus Christ; therefore, very little chance of corrupting speech to be coming out of our months. We need to know how to answer every man so it is imperative to have the proper foundation of wisdom and grace to give correct answers to every person. It does not matter whether we open up the subject about Jesus Christ or vice versa because first we have to settle our whole life on the solid foundation of the rock (Jesus Christ) instead of sinking sand. There will be adversaries to our faith in Jesus Christ but we must respond in a kind way giving reasons for our faith in the Son of God.

With that being said and I sure hope I presented this subject in the most positive way for you to be uplifted whoever you are out there in internet land. I would like to extend an invitation to you in that now may be a good time to accept Jesus Christ into your heart as your very own personal Savior and Lord by repenting of all your sins and inviting the Son of the Living God into your life. I hope and pray you just made that all important eternal decision. If you did then have sincere fellowship with Jesus Christ by abiding in Him every day. If you sin/sins confess them before the Lamb of God that died for your transgressions and listen for the direction of God in your life.

God Bless,
Bob D.