Today's Passage:  Colossians 4

Not all of us who love truth are always particularly careful in how we communicate it.  When I was much younger and fairly new in my faith, I never thought telling the truth bluntly was a bad thing.  One day after "setting someone straight" the Holy Spirit spoke to me and said, "Telling the truth is good, but not every one likes their meat raw."

It was the Lord's way of telling me that even if what I said was right, if I was careless in my timing or manner I had wasted my breath, and possibly created a stumbling block for that person to really hear and receive.

In today's passage, Paul is closes his letter to the Colossians, and exhorts them to be wise in the way they act towards  outsiders and make the most of every opportunity.  Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone." (Colossians 4:6).  Though Paul was very blunt is much of his writing, this might have been his graceful way of saying "Think before you speak".