Check out a highlight from last week’s podcast: The Only Engine That Keeps You on Mission for the Lord
I’ve been thinking a lot about Colossians 4:6 lately.
Paul tells believers:
“Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.”
I’ve read that verse dozens of times over the years, but recently one question keeps coming to mind:
Am I salt, or am I salty?
There’s a big difference.
When Paul talks about conversations being seasoned with salt, he’s describing words that preserve truth, bring life, create thirst, and ultimately point people toward Christ. Salt makes things better. Salt adds value. Salt serves a purpose beyond itself.
Being salty, on the other hand, usually means something completely different.
It means being irritated, defensive, harsh, cynical, offended, or overly critical. If I’m honest, there have been plenty of seasons in my life where I wasn’t acting like salt at all. I was just salty.
The older I get, the more I realize how easy it is to justify that attitude. Someone says something foolish. A coworker makes another bad decision. A family member keeps repeating the same mistake. Culture drifts further from biblical truth. Before long, frustration starts building, and if I’m not careful, that frustration begins to shape how I engage with people.
What starts as conviction slowly turns into irritation.
What starts as passion for truth slowly becomes impatience with people.
And what starts as a desire to represent Christ can quickly become a stumbling block for someone who desperately needs Him.
That’s the part that has been convicting me.
Far too often I’ve viewed difficult conversations as interruptions rather than opportunities. Instead of seeing a person who needs encouragement, wisdom, or hope, I see someone who is wrong. Instead of listening, I start preparing my response. Instead of extending grace, I start building a case.
The reality is that nobody has ever been argued into the Kingdom by my superior attitude.
Yet I can think of countless times God used someone’s patience, kindness, and grace to draw me closer to Him.
What’s especially humbling is remembering how much grace Jesus has extended toward me. If anyone has reason to be frustrated, it would be Him. How many times have I ignored His prompting? How many times have I repeated the same mistakes? How many times has He had to teach me the same lesson again?
And yet His grace never runs dry. His patience doesn’t wear out. His love doesn’t disappear. His mercy shows up fresh every morning. When I remember that, it becomes much harder to justify withholding grace from others.
The truth is that grace doesn’t come naturally to me. Maybe you’re wired the same way. I like solutions. I like action. I like fixing problems. But grace often requires slowing down long enough to see people the way Jesus sees them.
Instead of asking, “How do I correct this person?” maybe the better question is, “How do I love this person?” Instead of asking, “How do I win this argument?” maybe I should ask, “How do I win the opportunity to keep speaking into this person’s life?”
Paul wasn’t telling believers to water down truth. He wasn’t asking them to compromise. He was reminding them that truth delivered without grace often misses the heart entirely.
The goal isn’t to be right but rather to help people find the One who is.
As Christians, we are surrounded by opportunities every day. Coworkers. Neighbors. Friends. Family members. Complete strangers. Every interaction gives us a chance to either point someone toward Christ or push them further away.
That’s why this question has been sitting with me lately:
Am I bringing the preserving, life-giving influence of Christ into my conversations?
Or am I simply being salty?
Because one reflects Jesus.
The other reflects me.
And if I’m honest, I know which one needs to show up more often.