In the sacrificial system in the Old Testament, many of the sacrifices required that salt be used. Here’s one example:
You shall present them before the LORD, and the priests shall sprinkle salt on them and offer them up as a burnt offering to the LORD. (Ezekiel 43:24 )
The apostle Paul picks up this imagery and applies it to a specific category of Christian conduct:
Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person. (Colossians 4:6 )
Our speech, Paul is telling us, ought to be viewed and used as a sacrifice that we make to God. The people of Israel were required to give God only their very best as sacrifices. Imperfect or
But what would it look like if today I made my words as a sacrifice to God?
I have a friend who often speaks harsh cutting words and then excuses herself, claiming that she is just “speaking the truth in love.” At her best she is “speaking the truth” without the love part. And many times her “truth” is really an unbridled expression of her anger and outrage. That’s clearly not what the scriptures had in mind when it described words that are offered as a sacrifice to God.
Actually the scriptures are full of specifics, but let me give you a couple of example applications first:
“Let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger.” James 1:19.
Some years ago I had a job that took me out of town on frequent business trips. During those same years, my wife was home-schooling all four of our children. With me out of town, managing the children plus all of her responsibilities as a housewife placed a terrible burden on her. I would often come home from a trip to find my wife totally “out of cope”. My normally calm wife would be furious with one of our teenage daughters and insist that I step in immediately and handle the situation. Knowing both the heart of my wife and of my daughter, my first thought was to take only the spotty information that my wife communicated and really come down hard on my daughter. But many times the spirit of God spoke to my heart and said, “Calm down and listen before you speak rashly.” Once I got the rest of the story, my response was often quite different from what I had originally intended. It wasn’t that my wife was wrong; I just need more complete information. That’s why James said, “Be quick to hear; slow to speak; slow to anger.”
In other situations timing is the critical ingredient in our speaking. My wife often does her shopping in the afternoon, and then she gets home tired, hungry, and with her mind still churning from all her errands and her fight through traffic. After nearly fifty-years of marriage, I have learned that this is not the best time to discuss emotion-charged, husband-and-wife issues! In fact, it is the best time the help her carry in the groceries, and then silently get out of her way so she can take over her kitchen and get her job done. Later, when she has finished work and has gotten some food in her stomach, she is much more receptive to any type of discussion.
Here are a few of my favorite passages on the topic. I have to review these from time to time in order to remember how God wants me to communicate with others. As you read through them, take note of how frequently we are exhorted to slow down, filter our words, talk less, and listen more. That’s why David prayed:
Set a guard, O LORD, over my mouth;
keep watch over the door of my lips!
Psalm 141:3
Whoever restrains his words has knowledge,
and he who has a cool spirit is a man of understanding.
Proverbs 17:27
When words are many, transgression is not lacking,
but whoever restrains his lips is prudent.
Proverbs 10:19
Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger;
James 1:19
The words of the wise heard in quiet are better than the shouting of a ruler among fools.
Ecclesiastes 9:17
A gentle tongue is a tree of life,
but perverseness in it breaks the spirit.
Proverbs 15:4
The wise of heart is called discerning,
and sweetness of speech increases persuasiveness.
22Good sense is a fountain of life to him who has it,
but the instruction of fools is folly.
23The heart of the wise makes his speech judicious
and adds persuasiveness to his lips.
24Gracious words are like a honeycomb,
sweetness to the soul and health to the body.
Proverbs 16:21–24
A word fitly spoken
is like apples of gold in a setting of silver.
Proverbs 25:11
You brood of vipers! How can you speak good, when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. 35The good person out of his good treasure brings forth good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure brings forth evil. 36I tell you, on the day of judgment, people will give account for every careless word they speak,
Matthew 12:34–36
Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.
Ephesians 4:29
A fool takes no pleasure in understanding,
but only in expressing his opinion.
Proverbs 18:2
The purpose in a man’s heart is like deep water,
but a man of understanding will draw it out.
Proverbs 20:5
Be angry, and do not sin;
ponder in your own hearts on your beds, and be silent. Selah
Psalm 4:4
The Lord GOD has given me
the tongue of those who are taught,
that I may know how to sustain with a word
him who is weary.
Morning by morning he awakens;
he awakens my ear
to hear as those who are taught.
Isaiah 50:4
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.
Colossians 3:16
This last passage is instructive. If our hearts are full of “the word of Christ”, we will be better equipped to speak with the heart of Christ to those who are around us.