Have grace in your speech
Believers should always be ready to give reasons for the hope they have in Christ.
Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.
Colossians 4:6
Colossians 4:6 advises Christians to have grace in their speech, making it pleasant and fitting for the occasion. This means that believers should speak with kindness, wisdom, and respect, always being ready to give a reason for the hope they have in Christ.
If our conversation is to be always with grace, it must be courteous, humble, and Christlike. It should be free from gossip, frivolity and bitterness. The expression seasoned with salt may have a number of meanings. Some think that although our language should be gracious, it should be equally honest and without hypocrisy. Others think of salt as that which heightens flavor, and so Paul is saying that our conversation should never be dull, flat, or insipid, but should always be worthwhile and profitable. Perhaps the best way to explain the expression is to study the language of the Lord Jesus. To the woman taken in the act of adultery, He said: “Neither do I condemn you: go, and sin no more.” Here we have the grace and the salt. First of all, the grace, “neither do I condemn you”; then the salt, “go, and sin no more.”
That you may know how you ought to answer each one. Perhaps the Apostle Paul is thinking particularly of the Gnostics who came to the Colossians with their beliefs that differed significantly from mainstream Christianity in the first and second centuries AD. They should be ready to answer these false teachers with words of wisdom and faithfulness.
Being ready to share with others the reasons behind your faith in and love for Jesus is very important, which is why I began Daily Beacon Ministry a couple months ago. While our readership is currently quite small, I do not lose hope that one of these days a tortured soul will come across the words in our messages and find positivity and a glimmer of hope, desperately needed by so many in this broken world. Yes, we all live in a broken world, there is no doubt about it. Only through Jesus can we hope to make it through this life and beyond.
—Faith
Prayer of the Day
Lord Jesus, thank You for the hope that You have given us through Your death and resurrection. Help us to share this hope with others, that they might come to know You and the joy of salvation. Give us the courage to speak boldly about our faith, and the wisdom to know when and how to share. May our words and actions reflect Your love and grace, drawing others closer to You. Amen.