Have you ever wondered what the word means when it speaks of us being salty? Do you picture grains of salt and wonder how that was meant to be applied to you? I have and for years I though it was just something I'd never fully or even partially be able to really understand or apply. Salty verse seem to be shaken just a bit here or there, never expanded upon very well. That's just like salt - a little here and there but never the main, or side, dish. So I went digging & here is what I found...
You are the salt of the earth. But, if the salt looses
its saltiness, how can it be made salty again?
Matthew 5:13 NIV
Salt is good, but if it looses its saltiness, how can you
make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves and be at
peace with each other. Mark 9:50 NIV
Let your conversations always be full of grace,
seasoned with salt,
so that you may know how to answer everyone.
Colossians 4:6 NIV
Now, without doing any research on culture at that time here is what I got out of all this - salt is not just our words, but grace in our speech. In any relationship you can loose salt by loosing grace in your words - anger, gossip, lies, and so on poison our speech. How can we regain the trust and confidence of others? How can our words be trusted to be genuine and not just another deceitful manipulation?
Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths,
but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs,
that it may benefit those who listen. Ephesians 4:29 NIV
If we are to be salty, then we are to guard our words and our thoughts. Unwholesome talk takes our saltiness away and how can it be regained? Time and lots of humility are needed to rebuild a trustworthy tongue my friend. Maybe more time and humility than we can afford in some cases! We need to be trustworthy and live n relationship with one another daily. Be mindful of your thoughts and words that they may be seasoned with grace and not loose the saltiness they are meant to have.
For most of us we have walked through the loss of grace in our speech at some point. There were consequences, and some that we still live with. Do not loose hope, God is a restorer and a helper. He will show you the steps to walking in gracious words and to walking in repentance. Remember he is slow to anger, abounding in love & longs to be gracious to you! Ask him where to go from here and for the strength to resist the temptation to just 'say it like it is', when really there is so much more salt in the Maker's shaker.....
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