“Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt,
that you may know how you ought to answer each one”
– Colossians 4:6 –
Beyond the abuse of the consumption of salt and how detirmental it can be to our health, we cannot deny its benefits. Sea salt has numerous virtues for our health, as it provides minerals, provides the necessary magnesium, regulates blood sugar levels, and determines the water of our body.
Sodium chloride is essential in order to produce some acids that allow us to digest proteins and enzymes, regulates the balanced functioning of the brain, increases and improves the immune system, and consequently, resistance against infections. Baths in water with sea salt improve circulation, promote the healing of skin diseases, and moisturize the skin.
Why did Paul say that our words must be graceful, seasoned, and convenient? It is clear that there are ways of saying things, which we can invalidate or validate truthful content in the way we express it.
On the other hand, Jesus Himself showed us that salt (which gives a pleasant taste to food) is the symbol of God’s children, whose life and testimony must be full of flavor and be attractive. The believer is the salt of the earth. There is nothing more bland, tasteless, and fatal than Christians without influence, whose lives do not bring relief and their words are empty of meaning.
Just as salt stops things from going bad and at the same time produces the need for water; the believer is a brake on corruption and produces thirst, leading people to turn to Jesus, the Source of Living Water.
Paul encouraged that the way for Christians to speak be “seasoned with salt,” a metaphor that meant a healthy and engaging attitude. When the Christian opens his mouth, pleasant, fruitful, and uplifting words should flow out. Such was the importance of salt that for many centuries it came to serve as currency.
When we utter meaningless and silly words we encourage others to indulge in the same kind of conversation… The only words that should come from our lips should be pure, unmeaning words… Every word you speak is as a seed that will germinate and produce either good or bad fruit” (The Faith I Live By, p. 236).
Only from a life seasoned by the constant presence of Christ
can seasoned counsel and words come forth.