WATCHING MY WORDS

“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly…Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt.”

Colossians 3:16, 4:6

Today would have been my Uncle Matt’s 84^th birthday.  He is one of my heroes and I miss him very much.  He was a man of few words and I would say that his words were gracious and seasoned with salt.  I rarely (if ever) heard him say anything bad about anyone.  I knew he had issues with some people but he never voiced them; he kept them to himself.  I wish I had that discipline.

I am an honest person, seeing things as they are and dealing with them.  I think it is good to point out things that are wrong so they can be corrected.  These days that is considered being negative and negativity is now considered a sin.  I don’t think saying something is wrong is necessarily being negative.  Wanting something to be corrected and fixed is a positive thing in my mind.  So I say what I honestly think; if something is wrong I say it.  This has gotten me into trouble too many times to count.

I won’t stop being honest.  The discipline I need to practice is who I say things to and always checking my true motive for saying what I am saying. I have been wronged many times in my life and that has left me with many scars that could be opened very easily.  If I have been wronged by another person it is easy to fall into slander.  It is something I need to watch and control.

The key to my speech being gracious and seasoned with salt is to let the word of Christ dwell in me richly.  As I read about his interactions with people I learn how to speak to others.  He spoke honestly and directly with the Pharisees, pointing out their errors, so there is a time for that.  But I notice that these things were spoken after they had confronted him.  With his disciples, who were constantly missing the point of what he was teaching them, denying him, and even betraying him, he remained gracious, loving, and forgiving.  With people caught in sin he was honest but gracious and non confrontational or condemning.

I want to be more disciplined in my speech.  I do not need to talk about anyone who is not in my presence, even if it is to clear up a grievance.  That quickly becomes slander.  I want my words to be few.  I want my words to be gracious, kind, and easy to listen to.  I want my words to be the words of one who has Christ dwelling within me.