Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone. (Colossians 4:6, NIV)
I grew up caddying in New Jersey, earning money for cars, college, and dates during the summer when the heat was over 80 degrees and humidity usually over 70%. The guys I caddied for were sweating just as hard as I and would usually pass out salt pills at the turn. At that time, it did not occur to me that there were health benefits for salt; I thought its only value was to make my eggs taste better!
Not only is salt important to our health, but it is also used to exhort us in today’s verse. After some research and a call to my brother Glenn (a chemist), I learned that salt is comprised of sodium chloride (NaCl), and it was very valuable as a commodity in Jesus’ time on earth. We see this in Wikipedia’s introduction to salt:
Salt was prized by the ancient Hebrews, the Greeks, the Romans, the Byzantines, the Hittites, Egyptians, and Indians. Salt became an important article of trade and was transported by boat across the Mediterranean Sea, along specially built salt roads, and across the Sahara on camel caravans. The scarcity and universal need for salt have led nations to go to war over it and use it to raise tax revenues. Salt is used in religious ceremonies and has other cultural and traditional significance.
Wikipedia goes on to make mention of the Bible’s references to salt, including the words of Jesus, who used salt to illustrate three qualities that should be found in his people:
– We should remember God’s faithfulness, just as salt when used with a sacrifice recalled God’s covenant with his people. (Leviticus 2:13)
– We should make a difference in the flavor of the world we live in, just as salt changes meat’s flavor. (Matthew 5:13)
– We should counteract the moral decay in society, just as salt preserves food from decay. When we lose this desire to “salt” the earth with love and message of God, we become useless to him.
Salt makes us thirsty, and it is in Jesus that we find living water.
When the apostle Paul took up the matter of how we should converse with others, he also turned to salt. His formula for talking about Jesus was grace + salt. We might also write this as kind + engaging.
I love this whole idea because salt makes us thirsty, and it is in Jesus that we find living water. Look:
On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” (John 7:37-38)
As Links Players, we have many opportunities to change the conversation not only at our golf clubs, but at work, with family, and sometimes in line at the store. You never really know when God appoints a time for a conversation, so be prepared to shake some salt, adding flavor and creating thirst.
—
Chris Hermann
May 18, 2021
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The Links Daily Devotional appears Monday-Friday at www.linksplayers.com.
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