Words matter. And the way words are spoken matters, too. This is true of all words, including words that are spoken to communicate the gospel. A believer cannot be content to merely speak the truth. He must speak the truth of the gospel with grace (Col. 4:6; cf. also Eph. 4:15 for the general principle).
An unbeliever, having heard the words of a believer should think something like, “That was an interesting conversation; I may not be sure I believe him, but I appreciate the way he spoke to me. He was kind.” Our words should not only be true, but they should also be a blessing to the unregenerate.
And our words should also be salty — that is, they should give the unbeliever a thirst to hear more of what we said: “I wonder what else he has to say about Jesus; I’ve never thought about Christianity in that way before.” And these words should not only be salty in the sense of stimulating further interest, but they should also be preserving words — the relationship should be protected and kept because of the way we use our words.
Now saying all that is one thing. Most would agree with what I’ve written so far. But how can we actually do this? Randy Newman has several very helpful examples of graciously salty speech in his excellent book, Bringing the Gospel Home:
The prompt: Your uncle makes a disparaging remark about marriage.
Don’t say: “Well, the Bible says marriage is a reflection of Christ’s love for the church. Maybe you should consider that sometime.”
Instead, try grace and salt: “It sure does have its challenges. But it also has some great blessings, don’t you think?”
The prompt: Your brother tells you a dirty joke and then apologizes saying, “Oh, that’s right. You don’t tell those kinds of jokes. Sorry.”
Don’t say: “That’s right. I don’t tell those kinds of jokes, so I’d appreciate it if you wouldn’t tell them either.”
Instead, try grace and salt: “I do like jokes. Have you heard this one? . . .”
The prompt: Your father whines about “how the world is going to hell in a handbasket.”
Don’t say: “It sure is. In fact, Jesus said it’s only going to get worse. Are you ready?”
Instead, try grace and salt: “There sure are a lot of upsetting things going on. But there are a lot of good things happening too. That’s what always amazes me. People are capable of the worst and the best. Do you ever wonder about that?”
The prompt: Your sister says, “My neighbor is disgustingly rich. But she’s miserable. You’d think all that money would buy her some happiness.”
Don’t say: “It never can. That’s why the Bible says, ‘the love of money is the root of all sorts of evil.’”
Instead, try grace and salt: “That’s really sad, isn’t it? Why do you think money disappoints so much?”
This approach assumes you don’t need to dump the whole message on people with one fell swoop. The luxury of time can free us to pursue evangelism gradually.
It’s not always easy to be gracious with our words. But it is always a blessing to others, and when we are gracious in gospel circumstances, those kind and salty words may also have eternally good consequences.
Words of Grace 