WORDS CLOTHED IN GRACE
| The Colossians were cautioned by the
apostle, Saul of Tarsus, ‘Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned
with salt, so that you may know how you should respond to each person.’
(Col. 4:6) Remember who wrote these words, Rabbi Shaul, a Torah observant
Jew who was educated at the feet of Gamaliel, one of Judaism’s great
teachers. He would have learned well the lesson of Shmiras Haloshon – the
importance of guarding the tongue – and years later writes to some of the
earliest Christians, this admonition, ‘Let your speech always be with grace…’ How are we doing? Words clothed in grace communicate love, acceptance, kindness, encouragement. Words without grace are abrasive, abrupt, and tend to communicate a feeling to the listener of coldness, irritation or even rejection. Most often, words without grace are spoken when we are so wrapped up in our own agenda or activity that other people’s interruptions aggravate us and our words show it. Perhaps this is what Solomon was thinking when he wrote in Prov. 29:20 “Do you see a man hasty in his words? There is more hope for a fool than for him.” Even when our work or activity is of the highest priority and interruptions need to be managed, we can do so with kindness rather than abrasiveness. There is a way to let others know with grace that at the moment we cannot stop and give them our full attention, yet still send them away feeling loved and valued. Ask the Lord to teach you how to have ‘words filled with grace’. By Barbara Richman
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