Colossians 4: Salty Conversations

Paul Dziepak

Am I Making God a Priority?

I’ve concluded recently that if something is important to you, you will make time for it. I was convicted several weeks ago about my lack of time that I was spending with God when I knew I wanted God to be the first and the biggest in my life, and I just wasn’t spending the time with Him that I wanted.

I wasn't making TIME for God in my life

So, just a couple of weeks ago, I started getting up early before my day started to spend time in prayer and in the Word. And so this is kind of a reflection of that a little bit. I went through Ephesians and Philippians and just wanted a platform to share my thoughts on it.

Daily Christian Podcast Was Born.

With zero expectation of anybody actually listening, commenting, or sharing any of this, I started recording how God was impacting me through this devotional time. In Colossians, chapter four seems like a weird spot to start, but I’m just starting podcasting in the middle of what I’ve been doing the last couple of weeks.

Colossians Chapter 4

So in chapter four, what stood out to me the most was a couple of verses at the beginning, starting in verse two,

Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should. Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone

Colossians 4:2-6 (NIV)

Now, what stands out to me right out the gate is just knowing the Apostle Paul’s situation when he’s writing this letter. He’s writing this letter to basically a home church, and he is in prison.

And he’s in prison because he’s been sharing his faith. And now he is asking for prayer to say, hey, if you think about me, pray that I’ll be able to articulate my faith even better than I have. I’ll be able to explain it better to the people I’ve run across. And this guy is the one who’s in prison for sharing his faith, risking his life to let people know about Jesus Christ and what he did on the cross.

I'm not going to go to Prison

And he’s asking for prayer that he can do it better. It blows me away because I get persecuted ZERO if I want to share my faith.

I’m not going to go to prison.
I’m not going to be killed.

I think the worst thing that might happen is maybe somebody doesn’t want to talk to me anymore or thinks I’m weird and kind of stays away from me. That stands out to me a little bit. In addition to that, he ends this little section by talking about how our conversations really should be.

Adding Salt to the Conversation

And there are two parts of it that it should be.

Full of Grace: I think personally for me because I’m not really judgmental towards people; I think that comes easier for me. I can be graceful and encouraging because that’s where my heart is. The hard part for me is to be seasoned with salt.
Seasoned with Salt: This was written 2,000 years ago. So, being seasoned with salt isn’t really about making your food taste better as much as it is about preserving your food. This is way before refrigeration. Salt was used to prevent things from rotting. To have salt in your conversation is to be sprinkling in the truth of their need for God and the truth of Jesus Christ, the Gospel, and the good news.

More Salt or More Grace?

If you ask my kids, they might say that I have much more salt than grace. There may be some truth to that, when I’m dealing with them, I love them so much, and want them to have a relationship with God and experience His peace, joy, and have the fruits of the Spirit. I want them to live a life fulfilling their purpose. I put a lot of salt in those conversations. It is because I love them so dearly. Now, why is that less in my talks with others? Is it that I have less love for others than I do for my own family?

Life Saving Conversations

If my kids were drowning and I had a life preserver, you bet I’d be throwing them that life preserver because it’s going to save their life.

How much would you have to hate somebody to have a life preserver while they’re drowning and not give it to them? I also understand that people might not want it. They might not want anything to do with it. They’ve had bad experiences before, or maybe they don’t even think they’re drowning.

Needless to say, my conversations should be articulating that, hey, this is what you need; there is a life preserver available. And whether they take it, whether they believe it, that’s not in my court.

My job is to have these conversations full of grace and seasoned with salt.

Anyway, that’s what’s on my mind right now. Maybe you want to think about what your conversations are like. Maybe you have too much salt and not enough grace, or maybe you have too much grace and not enough salt. Hopefully, you have a good amount of both.