September 19: Insight Post by Michael Thayer

I have recently taken up cooking and meal preparation in our family.  I am a stickler when it comes to recipes – maybe it has something to do with my German heritage on my mom’s side. I still have my grandmother’s decades-old, detailed, handwritten recipes, which, if followed to a T, always result in tasty dishes. 

My wife, as some of you know, is an excellent cook. For her, cooking is an art, not a science, like it is for me. Garlic salt is her go-to paintbrush. Almost regardless of the recipe or the takeout meal that doesn’t pass muster with her, a little garlic salt (sometimes in combination with other spices) makes everything taste better.

The NIV version of our Bible verse for today, Colossians 4:6, reads: “Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.”  Paul is providing instructions to the Colossians on how we as Christians should behave toward and engage with each other in a Christlike way. According to my Bible, Paul wrote the letter of Colossians while imprisoned in Rome for declaring the Lord as his leader and savior, and that God is Lord of all – a difficult time for sure.

Pastors Rusty and Yayo have spoken so well of the challenges of living when it seems life has been turned upside down.  When we feel off our game due to life’s unexpected events and difficulties, it can be a challenge to be gracious with ourselves and especially with others.

Yet Paul is calling us to season our conversations with salt and to be gracious, just as Christ was for us and for those who persecuted and ultimately crucified Him.  Even when circumstances were bitter, and words filled with anger and hate would have felt more natural and justified, Christ provided grace in His conversations with and His attitudes toward those who persecuted him.

As individuals, and as a country, we face challenging conversations.  Let us follow the examples of the apostle Paul and our Lord Jesus to bring about much-needed reconciliation and unity in our relationships and in our country, and ultimately peace that only God can provide and sustain.