“Let your speech always be with grace, as though seasoned with salt, so that you will know how you should respond to each person” (Colossians 4:6). I have in the past made reference to the need for us to encourage one another with the right kind of speech. The apostle Paul gives this command in Ephesians 4:29: “Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear.” It’s important that we be careful how we speak to one another and what we say when we do.
This morning, however, I want to make a slightly different point from Colossians 4:6 to help encourage you and get this week off to a great start. My encouragement to you is to encourage you to encourage others. Make a special effort this week to be a blessing in someone else’s life. We read in Romans 15:1-3: “Now we who are strong ought to bear the weaknesses of those without strength and not just please ourselves. Each of us is to please his neighbor for his good, to his edification. For even Christ did not please Himself, but as it is written, ‘The reproaches of those who reproached You fell on Me.’”
Everyone should understand that the weak have need to be strengthened and that it’s the responsibility of the strong to provide that strength. We should be trying to build up those who need encouraging. This is the example that Jesus left us to follow. Here is the point I want to make. If you will assume this role (the role of encourager or edifier), you will yourself be encouraged and edified in the process. It’s a wonderful cycle that God designed for us.
It fits in perfectly with Paul’s assertion when he quoted Jesus that “It is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35). When we focus more on the blessing of giving, in this case, giving encouragement, we make ourselves better able to receive encouragement. Those who are focused on themselves have a very hard time getting any kind of encouragement, even the genuine and sincere encouragement they receive from those who love them and care for them. No matter how good the encouragement is, it’s never enough. Bitterness is often the result of such selfishness. On the other hand, the one who forgets himself and his own needs and focuses on the needs of others, very often finds himself (or herself) receiving encouragement from even unexpected quarters. It feels good to make others feel good!
This week, I want you to try really hard to season your speech with salt. Speak to those who need your encouragement in such a way that they are built up and not torn down. To season your speech with salt is to speak in such a way as to preserve rather than to destroy. It could be to preserve a relationship. or it could be in reference to preserving someone unto salvation, sharing with that person the words of life. Even if your life is filled with intense pain, your ministry to others in this way will give you strength and you will be encouraged more than those to whom you minister. Being a blessing to others is a win-win situation for the faithful Christian. Isn’t it great that God made us this way? He did that because He loves you and I wanted to know because I do, too.
djb