As we finish our final part of our sermon series on Pauls’ letter to the Colossians we explore these two themes, salt and bitterness. In chapters 3 and 4 of this letter Paul brings it all home to his readers as he extends the concept of our life in Christ to be applied to domestic life; for husbands, wives, children, slaves and masters, plus how we relate to people outside the faith. How we relate to people, comes down to how we choose to speak to each other. Paul says in chapter 4:6: Let your words be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to respond to everyone.
Emotions often get the better of us when we argue; it’s normal for many of us that negative emotions such as anger can hijack our brains and stop us from responding to our loved ones the way we should. Applying the salt of the Gospel and seasoning our words regularly can help prevent decay in marriages and in parenting, promoting regular forgiveness to help cancel out those feelings of bitterness. Listen to Pastor Matt’s message as he not only unpacks the text, but also suggests helpful techniques to help spouses and parents counter the effects of emotional bitterness building up in relationships by teaching ways to signal time outs from arguments that become too intense, building effective repair and forgiveness.
