God tells us through the Apostle Paul that our speech should always be with grace, as though seasoned with salt, that we will know how we should respond to each person (Col. 4:6). We respond with grace. God's grace. Seasoned grace. Always. We speak of His grace, His wondrous grace, in a gracious way. The right words are flavorless if not spoken with grace. We season with salt to make food savory. We season with grace to make words savory. Gracious words come from a humble spirit. God wants us to minister grace to those who listen to us, to those we want to listen to us (Eph. 4:29), manifesting through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place (2 Cor. 2:14). A sweet aroma, not cannon smoke.
"Moreover, the speech of the saints ought to be in a graceful way, with a cheerful and pleasant countenance, in an affable and courteous manner, and not after a morose, churlish, and ill-natured fashion: and this should be "alway" the case; not that they should be always talking, for there is a time to keep silence, as well as a time to speak; but the sense is that when they do speak, it should be both graceful things, and in a graceful manner."
~John Gill, 18th Century
Painting ~ The Conversation 1895, Pierre Auguste Renoir 1841-1919
Wiki Art public domain
