The Lord speaks about communication thousands of times in the Bible. Art of Eloquence has a page devoted to communication quotes and scriptures and I've decided to take a quote or scripture each month from this collection and share what I believe it is saying to us today.
This week, I'd like to talk about what I believe is one of the most important scriptures on communication! It's one of the first that jumped out at me when I first began reading the Bible after I accepted Jesus many years ago now.
“Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man.” -Colossians 4:6
If you read my article last week on why communication skills are more important than ever, you know that grace was a HUGE part of the reason behind that post. I shared how if you're tired of the venom on social media, you can be part of the solution.
Let's break this down this scripture one section at a time:
"Let your speech be always with grace"
The natural reaction to anger is anger. The more someone's anger comes through in their communication, the easier it is to return anger with anger. This is how things escalate and become vicious even to the point of things becoming physical.
If our speech is always with grace, we can eliminate the anger from our words and tone leaving just the ideas. This right there allows for a discussion instead of an argument. This one tip for more effective communication in God's Word will help you avoid so much of the hatred and venom on social media or wherever else you find yourself.
"seasoned with salt"
I found a wonderful passage on BibleRef.com that had this explanation of this part of Paul's message to us in this scripture.
"In Paul's time, salt served primarily as a preservative, keeping meat from spoiling. It was valuable enough to be used as a form of currency. And, of course, it changes the flavor of whatever it is added to. In that regard, Paul's use of this metaphor has more than one meaning. The believer's words are to preserve the message of Christ, helping it effectively reach as many people as possible. What a Christian says ought to add value to the conversation; our words should be uplifting or helpful. Finally, the truth of our renewed Christian lives ought to be clear in the different "flavor" of how we speak and act."
"that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man"
Once we know how to speak in grace and season it with salt that so we preserve the message of Christ, we will know HOW we are to answer every man who asks questions about God and the Bible. We will know how we are to speak to those who think differently than we do. We will know how to speak up for the Kingdom of God and the values He would have us speak about.
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JoJo Tabares
www.ArtofEloquence.com
Christain-based speech communication materials for all ages!
Equipping the Christian Community to speak out
in boldness tempered by grace since 2002!