86 - Is Our Speech Seasoned with Salt?

What should everyday Christian conversation sound like—without feeling fake or performative?

In this episode, we discuss Colossians 4:5–6: speech that is gracious, wise, and “seasoned with salt.” Along the way, we wrestle with the tension between being genuine and being intentional: is saying “I’ll pray for you” (or even “Can we pray right now?”) bold faith… or does it feel contrived because we’re simply not used to it?

If you’ve ever felt convicted that your speech doesn’t always match your faith, if you want your speech to reflect Jesus more consistently and naturally, this episode offers practical, encouraging steps to start right where you are.

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Thanks for listening!

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:04

Welcome to the Exortic Podcast, where you aim to stir up love and good works through bite-sized biblical discussion. Welcome back. We've had a few weeks off and weeks. I guess it's been weeks. Last time we, I think we had on here, assuming this comes after Chris Emerson. Um, it was he was a pleasure to have on the podcast and to hang out with me. Beginning in November. Uh so yeah.

SPEAKER_01 0:31

Well, I mean, the episodes didn't come out until Thanksgiving.

SPEAKER_02 0:33

Sure. Um, but it was uh it was nice to have him around and get to know him and talk to him. Yeah, he's good.

SPEAKER_01 0:39

Um I'm not gonna lie, I was a little intimidated to be in a podcast episode with like a rookie and he is such a pro.

SPEAKER_02 0:47

I mean we've been doing this for like three and a half, almost four years. He's about six years, seven years then.

SPEAKER_00 0:55

Six seven years.

SPEAKER_02 0:58

Um but uh you know definitely as far as volume goes, weekly. He's definitely uh he's been doing this a lot longer. Oh yeah, you mean quantity of the dude?

SPEAKER_01 1:09

I'm like super loud.

SPEAKER_02 1:12

No, the the volume of I really enjoyed the yeah, behind the scenes, I think that was fun for me.

SPEAKER_01 1:18

Um the behind the scenes for me and Kyle are not very much.

SPEAKER_02 1:22

Well, it was just nice to to to bounce ideas off of him and him kind of um sounding board some of that stuff. So that was nice. I enjoyed that. But sorry, I didn't mean to get you off track on the intro. It's fine. No, it was great. We just haven't talked to each other in so long. It's been a while. Yeah. Um and hopefully we'll uh have a few more here, wrap up the season, and probably take another break. Hopefully, we'll just keep on going. We'll we'll see. We'll see what it looks like. But um appreciate you listening. Uh, Nate, you have our topic today. What are we gonna be talking about?

SPEAKER_01 1:55

I do. Um, so just recently, my wife took the girls to gymnastics and um and she met a lady there at gymnastics, and this lady um had very religious speech, not pretentious religious. Um Ashley didn't make it sound like this gal was, you know, putting on a show, but it was very obvious from the time Ashley started talking with her through the entire conversation that she was a devoted Christian. Um and so she came home and we we talked about it, and she said, you know, we don't talk like that. And there we don't know a lot of people like at church who talk like that. And why is that? Um and so the question kind of came up like how should we be talking in our daily conversations um as Christians? Um and so that's kind of the question that I wanted for us to explore today is how should we talk as Christians? Should it be different than everybody else?

SPEAKER_02 3:02

What does it mean in our everyday life? So so I mean we had we've had some episodes where we were talking about like euphemisms or we're talking about the things we shouldn't say and so that's not necessarily what you're you're going at.

SPEAKER_01 3:14

But you're saying what should the is it like a quality of like or just a focus of I think there's I think there are some pretty obvious things like um yeah, don't go around you know cussing like a sailor and and and don't don't gossip. Um and we know that uh you know Ephesians 4 talks about coarse jesting. We're not supposed to um talk like that. Um but yeah, no, I'm talking more about the not what we shouldn't say, although that's a part of it, but more of what we should say, how we should talk in our daily conversations. Um in a in a passage that I'd like to kind of keep in mind as um or just maybe even ground this episode is Colossians four verses five and six. Hey, Colossians four, five, six uh seven. Uh I'm just getting turning my Bible right now. Uh we're not gonna do verse seven, but it comes after six. Um Colossians four verses five and six. Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time. Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person. Um there are kind of two parts of that that stand out to me. The first one is uh let your speech always be gracious. W when I think about um speech being gracious, I think about the word grace, and um but I get the idea of a gift, right? Something that uh is given to us that we don't deserve. So our speech should be gracious. Um and it should be seasoned with salt. That's one that I want to um to talk about, uh to ask you guys what your opinions are in just a minute. Uh and then so that you may know how you ought to answer each person. That each person part really tells me that there is some situational decision making when it comes to our speech. Each person is different, each setting is different. And so some things we say should be different for some people than for others. Um so that's kind of what I want to explore a little bit more today. But uh I want to know from you guys what do you think it means that our speech is seasoned with salt?

SPEAKER_02 5:30

Well, some people think salt is spicy.

SPEAKER_01 5:33

That's a spice. Salt. Salt is not is it considered a spice? It's considered a seasoning. I don't think it's considered a spice. It doesn't spice it. What do you think it means that our sea our speech is seasoned with salt? Talk like a sailor. Salty speech. That's that's the spice bob reference you're going to be.

SPEAKER_00 5:51

No, I I I've heard two different um explanations over the years. One is that salt is about flavor, uh-huh. Uh so there's something of substance, there's something um you know, value to it, but also salt is a preservative. Okay. So I've I've kind of heard people take those two different routes to explain this before. Um I just tend to think of it as being valuable or or worthwhile. So um you talk about making the most of the opportunity, yeah, uh, and then being seasoned with salt, it's easy to talk to people. And some people really struggle with that. They think, well, I can't talk to strangers. Well, it's funny the things that that you find yourself talking to. Like if I wear a Seahawks shirt and you know, I find that one other Seahawks fan in town who's not a 49ers fan or something, and and then we'll start talking about it. I'll be talking to a total stranger about uh the trade for Sam Darnold or how uh JSN is gonna be uh maybe setting the record for receiving yards and stuff like that. We'll just start talking about all the players on the roster and oh yeah, I used to live there in the 90s, and you know, and then I'll just get in this deep conversation about Seattle or something like that. And so I'm having a conversation with someone, but was it the best use of that opportunity? And I have to reflect back and say, no, it was pleasant and it was very easy to talk about something like sports, yeah. And talking about the Bible or talking about God or church sometimes does not go very easily. Yeah. And maybe that's why we shy away from it. But that's that's where my mind went when you were setting up this uh this topic was just it's it's really easy to talk to people when you talk about certain topics, yeah. Yeah. But trying to make the most of the opportunity is the challenge for us.

SPEAKER_02 7:40

We have different experiences with that because because you don't talk about the throw things at me when I they know I'm a Patriot fan.

SPEAKER_00 7:47

Oh no one outside of Boston likes the Patriots.

SPEAKER_02 7:52

Exactly. Um except for me. Uh, I would say I I think of it a lot of times. This comes up when I think of when someone says Lord willing. When someone said some some people like say things that I don't normally say, and then it reminds me, I also think of this in the workplace. Anytime someone's going through a struggle, let's put good vibes out there, good vibes, or or we think uh we'll we'll keep you in our thoughts, not and prayers. They don't add that one, we'll get to that one later. Um, but they they don't say that. But so it's it's the language that people use when they use alternative speak to not use biblical speak. Oh, oh yeah. And it's like the thinking I have is do I counter that with yeah, well, we'll be praying for you. Yeah, like do you think of that as a way to interject um yeah, the biblical speech. But I noticed that work where it's not um you get caught off guard when someone actually does have like a Christian Christian, you know, words and speak. Um, and it makes you feel like, okay, well, is that is it a part of who you are? Is it a part of your normal speech? Because when I've heard it from people, it sounds like that's just something they say all the time. Like that's normal for them.

SPEAKER_01 9:04

Yeah, yeah. So you're talking about like uh do they genuinely mean that or are they?

SPEAKER_02 9:08

Yeah, and I think in a place uh like at work is a place where you might be more reserved, but when people are very active about that and saying things, then it feels like okay, well, they this is a part of their normal speech.

SPEAKER_01 9:18

Yeah, yeah. I think that that's something um to be aware of too. Like um, we don't want to be disingenuous when when we speak, because people see right through that. Um we want to be we want to be genuine, we want to mean what what we say, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 9:32

You mean don't say I'll pray for you when you know I'm not gonna Well, okay, so that's a good that's a good one.

SPEAKER_01 9:39

And I'm just joking. I'm joking. Oh, okay. So don't pray for me then. Um no, but I have said that before, and then I think when am I gonna do that? Well, I'm I'll just do it right now so that way I'm not lying. Sure. Yeah. Um, but yeah, that's one example. I think I think it's a good idea to have some examples here of of what you know speech seasoned with salt is. Um compliments. I think genuine compliments like um is is seasoning our language with with salt. I think the I the idea, John, of saying, you know, um, I'll I'll I'll say a prayer for you for that, or something like that. Um I think that that is seasoning our speech with salt. Or even sometimes it's not always appropriate, right? Like if you're I don't know. I was gonna say if you're talking to a devout atheist and then you quote the Bible, maybe you're gonna bring up something that's really contentious and might throw things off in a way that you don't want to. Um, but but uh I have a friend, I've mentioned him on the podcast before, Caleb. Every conversation I have with him, he's like, Well, the Bible says, and it's like, oh, okay. I know this guy's a Christian, right? Yeah. And so throwing in, you know, um, literally quoting biblical text. I think there's some value in that sometimes.

SPEAKER_02 10:49

My dad was always worried about being seen of men, like praying in a restaurant type thing. Okay, give an example, is you're you're trying to be a little more outward about that kind of thing. So we didn't do like prayers around the table at a restaurant as a family when we went out because I know I think he had this kind of reservation that people did that to be seen of men kind of thing. I don't know. When it's not natural to me sometimes to say certain things because it feels like I'm trying you know, like I'm I'm being disagreeing. Feels contrived. Yeah, I felt like I'm being disingenuous because it isn't natural. And I so I like this topic because it does convict you to sit there and thinking, well, why is it natural? I'm enjoying the the idea of this because uh it challenges you to think about well, why isn't that normally a part of your speech? And I think that's just because you're you're either not trying to be Kyle, it's probably easier to share to share these kinds of words at work uh for you uh than it may be for me. But um when he's alone at the building talking to himself, just in general, it feels it. I don't know. But then again, when someone says, um, I'm sending you good vibes, I'm like, what am I gonna do with that?

SPEAKER_00 11:57

Like I'm like, you can have your good vibes. I'm okay. Well, if you want to make the most of the of the opportunity, uh you can say, Can I pray for you? But wouldn't it be even more um advantageous to and and perhaps a little more bold to say, would you like to say a prayer right now? Oh yeah. And sometimes that's that's an easy way. And maybe we are sincere about our our intentions to pray for that person. Uh but I think the best way to show that, and you're right, Nate, maybe not all situations are like that. If you if you have an atheist cornered and say, Let's pray right now, like that's probably antagonistic to him. Uh but you know, read the situation out. But that that's something that maybe and and John, that's that's a pretty common thing. I think a lot of Christians is trying to find that balance between uh not not uh doing things to impress people versus well at some point you're putting your light under a basket.

unknown 13:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 13:01

Yeah, I think attention to me or am I drawing attention to God? I think that has to be the determining factor.

SPEAKER_02 13:06

There has not been a time where someone said, let's pray about it, or let's like there's not been a time where someone has said that to me and or I'll pray for you, or let's just pray right now, that I didn't believe they were genuine about it. So I think that's kind of a contradiction to the kind of the perspective that you might have about that. If I don't doubt people's genuineness when they say it to me, why would it sound disingenuous coming from me?

SPEAKER_00 13:32

Yeah. I think that move would even surprise a lot of our brethren. Not can I pray for you, but can we pray right now? It's just not so.

SPEAKER_02 13:39

Yeah. But I think I I've had a couple people in my life that have done that so often that when they do it, it feels genuine. You know, maybe if someone that I it's never happened before, it would feel like yeah, we've known each other for 10 years and you've never done that. Well, why are you doing that now? But maybe they're they're they're wanting to add some salt to their uh yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:01

So maybe there's one one way to add some salt to it, give some grace to people and uh well and I think we're missing opportunities after church.

SPEAKER_00 14:08

We all hang out on the back lawn and watch our kids so they don't run in the parking lot or whatever. And more often than not, the topic goes to again sports or movies or things like that.

SPEAKER_02 14:19

And not now, fantasy football's over, so we have nothing to talk about.

SPEAKER_00 14:23

Well, we can talk about the number one seeded Seahawks. Well, probably by the time this episode comes out, they will have lost to the 49ers and they'll be the five seed. I'm just being a realist here.

SPEAKER_02 14:33

It's happening today, thank you.

SPEAKER_01 14:34

Yeah, I'm a 49ers fan when they're doing well. Kyle, you brought something up too, um, and John, you did too, something to avoid, which is the don't um don't be disingenuoine. How many negatives is that? Don't be disingenuous. And what comes to mind is that passage um in Matthew where the Pharisee is like going out and praying on the street corners so that he can be seen. Matthew 6, 5 through 7, when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. They love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners that they may be seen by others. And John, this gets back to your point about um when you are uh like praying in a restaurant, are you doing it because you want to be seen by others, or are you doing it genuinely? And so I think when whenever we're using religious speech sounds like the wrong, like it's contrived. But I don't think we should try to use some of those words just because or to draw attention to ourselves. Look, we need to do it genuinely, not as a performance.

SPEAKER_02 15:32

Well, you can't um you can't know people's intentions, um, their motivations. So you can see people praying in a in a restaurant or or outwardly, you know, using certain speech, and you don't know there's very little in a way of being able to tell if it's contrived or if it's a part of their normal, you know, um speech. So I think that that's then for us to avoid the judgment of that, um, and to assume positive intent and assume you know that is because at the end of the day, even if you're let's say you're praying outwardly, yeah, um, you could want that to be seen of men for a good reason. Oh, sure. You know, like like you could want to say, I'm going to make prayer normal for people around me to see, and I'm gonna basically show you know Christ's light, you know, as bright as I can. As long as it's not to elevate oneself but elevate God. I think that that's the thing. And you can't really tell that from seeing someone.

SPEAKER_01 16:33

And and we're using this, you know, praying in a restaurant or whatever, as an ex as an exam as an example of um using Christian speech more frequently.

SPEAKER_02 16:43

Um But it could just be your like your your normal language and conversational speech.

SPEAKER_01 16:48

So do you think it do you think it might feel a little bit contrived in our own minds and hearts if we realize, hey, I I I need to change some of the things that I say, and I'm just not used to talking like that yet?

SPEAKER_00 16:59

I I think you know the difference between what the Pharisees are trying to do and Jesus is is criticizing them for I think you know those prayers when you hear it. Yeah. Someone that is someone that is all about the big words, big words, fancy words, eloquence, and devoid of genuineness. I think you can tell it when you hear it. And I don't think Jesus is telling us that we should never pray in front of people. I mean, I can read plenty of examples of people in the Bible that that prayed publicly. I mean, Nehemiah, uh, in in the book of Nehemiah, you get the priests that are up front teaching the people and saying prayers, and uh Ezra, there's some great examples there. You get lots of examples of of praying with people and leading people in worship. And so there's just lots of examples of that. So I think you know the difference when you can tell when you hear it.

SPEAKER_01 17:47

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I I think people have a a good idea.

SPEAKER_00 17:50

Because I my thought is you can be so humble to the point where someone might be surprised to learn that you are a church-going believer. And I think that's a that's a as big a problem as it is um going on the other extreme like a Pharisee and just doing something to draw attention to yourself. Yeah. Uh so I think we've got to be careful about overcorrecting just because I don't want to be a Pharisee. I don't think if we're reading the Bible and following Jesus, I don't think we're really the kind of people he's he's warning against. Yeah. Yeah. And the kind of prayers we're talking about here. Uh one one thought on the idea of prayer uh as well. Something that if you look at the the context in Colossians 4, this this section here that you read from begins with Paul asking for prayers from the Colossians.

SPEAKER_03 18:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:40

He said, continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving, meanwhile, praying also for us, that God would open to us a door for the word to speak the mystery of Christ, that I may make it manifest as I ought to speak. So that is in the context of him saying, pray for us, that not only do we get opportunities for people that will listen to us, but that when we get those opportunities, I may know what to say.

SPEAKER_01 19:05

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 19:06

Because telling people about God, telling people about the Bible, that's a tall order. And I think that's what maybe intimidates us from talking about God more openly, is we know it's if an apostle who had all these miraculous spiritual gifts says, pray for me that I can know what to say when I get the opportunities. Yeah. If he's asking for those prayers, boy, where are we at on that spectrum, right? To me, a big part of prayer, it's not about um changing God's mind. It's not about getting God on board with our plans, it's about getting us in alignment with God's will. Yeah. And so if we're praying for this, I don't know that the answer needs to be something miraculous from God. I think that that is a big part of the the answer, is just that we're praying for it, puts us in the mindset, makes us thoughtful about it. So, how often do you pray for opportunities? And then beyond that, how often do you pray for for grace and salty uh language?

SPEAKER_02 20:04

Salty language, salty speech. In in in that context, that sounds like that sounds like the opposite of what it's supposed to be. Um well, I mean, I didn't mean it uh to totally get us off on a prayer aspect, but I love that it's in the context there.

SPEAKER_00 20:20

Well, and we can pray this for other people, so I could pray for John that what that when he gets opportunities, he won't stick his foot in his mouth.

SPEAKER_02 20:26

Well, I guess it would take God's help. Um but but I was just thinking about is prayer gonna be our new joke? Oh, he's been teaching, he's been preaching uh doing a lesson about prayer uh uh class about prayer. Yeah. So I'm like are we gonna am I gonna find out being popped up in all the time?

SPEAKER_00 20:47

Heaven forbid I dig deep into one topic or book of the Bible.

SPEAKER_02 20:51

There's a lot of people.

SPEAKER_01 20:52

Kyle just keep the surface level. I'm on your side, okay? I'm on I'm on your side. You you've you've been studying prayer listening.

SPEAKER_02 20:59

Am I not on Kyle's side? You just don't sound like it right now. I just like picking.

SPEAKER_01 21:03

Yeah, yeah, you certainly do. Um, so I want to get to like I think what what the issue is behind our our speech and how we talk. And Luke 645, I think, hits the nail on the head. The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart, his mouth speaks. I've heard this I've heard this before said with the acronym GI G-O-G-GU, good in, good out, garbage in, garbage out. And uh just makes me think that the more good things we are putting into our minds and into our hearts, then the more good things are going to come out of our mouths. And when I say good, I mean godly things. So our hearts are are the source of where our speech comes from, and probably most of our listeners know that. But I think that's where the real issue is is where is our heart? What is our heart set on? What are we putting into our minds and into our hearts? And if we are putting the right things into our minds and into our hearts, then I believe our speech is a natural reflection of that.

SPEAKER_02 22:08

Uh if you just decided, you know, you wanted to interject a little bit more godly speech in your direct your everyday conversation. Sure. How would that be responded to by other people? Would it would it sound, you know, like just just I'm just gonna convict that that's my new resolution this year, you know, and I'm gonna add more in there. I think that based upon the relationships that you already have with people, if they know you have a godly heart, yeah, I think that they might notice it. Uh-huh. But I think that the key then would be is is it consistent? Um, is it a part, you know, is it now just a part of who you are? I think that being consistent with it is what will determine how people will really feel about that and whether it's just something you're you're trying on. But at the end of the day, does that even matter? You know, if if you feel I would assume interjecting that, leaning into that makes you feel closer to God, makes you it reminds yourself, you know, on a daily.

SPEAKER_01 23:01

Like if you're you are you kind of suggesting and this maybe isn't the best way to say it, but it's what comes to mind the fake it till you make it kind of I don't know if it does where maybe you guys just intention an intentional shift on doing something.

SPEAKER_02 23:14

It's like um setting an alarm to do a prayer in the morning. Is it if it's it's not something that you naturally do all the time, um is that alarm faking it? I think it's just discipline.

SPEAKER_00 23:25

Well that would be a good that'd be a good resolution for the year, is that in every conversation, I am going to I'm gonna work in some comment about what I'm reading in the Bible right now or what our Bible class was at church. I am going to bring every conversation back to even just a simple um expression of gratitude to God. I'm gonna bring God into every single conversation and just make that something you are conscious of, and I would say incorporate that into your prayers because that to me is half of the half of the the the victory of prayer is just that you you pray it, it puts it in your mind to do it. I think that that's half of the effectiveness of your prayer right there. It's just that you're praying for it. Yeah, it makes you mindful.

SPEAKER_01 24:11

So, so you're you're kind of transitioning to the next place that I was thinking of going with this conversation, Kyle, which is um if what we say is a product of what's in our hearts, then how do we fill our hearts with the right stuff? How do we make sure that that's uh on our minds? And and you mentioned praying about it, and that's one of the things that can fill our hearts and minds with godly things. I think there are some other things that that we can do as well to fill our hearts with the right things so that we talk in a godly way. Psalm 119, 11 says, I have stored up your word in my heart that I might not sin against you. I hear this so much. Read the Bible. Put the Bible into your mind and into your heart. Joshua 1 8. This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. We need to be not only just putting the word into our minds and into our hearts, but then thinking about it, meditating on it. Um I've heard before that the root of that word is you get a the idea of a cow that chews the grass over and over, chewing the cud, right? Um this idea of meditating is think about these things over and over. And when we do that, we are there's actual psychological research, you know, brain research on when we do these things over and over and over and over, it it makes these neural pathways in our mind that makes it more regular, makes it automatic.

SPEAKER_02 25:42

Yeah, and that could even be listening to podcasts.

SPEAKER_01 25:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 25:46

Uh plugs for the exhorter. Uh that's right. But but it could it even just having Christian uh conversations with other Christians, uh, the more dialogue you have, the more um content you have. I mean, quite a lot. An entire nation can suddenly overnight feel like six, seven is something that's fun to add into every single conversation. How did that happen? It's vain, it doesn't even mean anything, it literally means nothing. And so we're so sponges to our our surroundings and to the language we hear into what we hear and what we say. And and so I think that's a great point, is if you're in the word, but you're if you're also having these conversations with other people, if you the the more you have this kind of language, um your life centered around God, I I think it's gonna be a byproduct.

SPEAKER_01 26:35

Yeah, there's something else.

SPEAKER_02 26:37

But you can be intentional about it. And I don't think that that's a yeah, yeah. I think I would have to be intentional about it. And I and I feel like then, well, what's wrong with me?

unknown 26:44

Right.

SPEAKER_02 26:44

Yeah. I mean, if oh if I have to if I have to remind myself, I should say Lord Willen of it makes me feel sound like I'm 60 years old, too. Yeah, uh and I'm gonna go. And the creek don't rise. And the creek don't rise. And the creek don't rise. Uh but why why would I say that? Well, I I think that it it would remind me that I'm not in control.

SPEAKER_03 27:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 27:05

Yeah. And I do I do think that's a good thing uh to remind myself. So then a lot maybe that speech is more for myself than it is necessarily for other people.

SPEAKER_01 27:15

Um or at least as much as.

SPEAKER_02 27:17

As much as. And I think where it's genuine, it should be a byproduct. And I think that you you said it best is you start with you if it if it if you want it to be not vain in repetition, if you don't want it to be, you know, I think it starts with what you put in.

SPEAKER_03 27:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 27:35

And um and let it be a byproduct of that. And I I do think like I there's a couple brethren that I that I have that I just enjoy that they're always gonna bring things back around. Um, to God, too. Yeah, to God. And and I'm I know that if I'm gonna be in the conversation with them, have coffee with them, I know that they're going to that's gonna be a part of my art. And I know it's a great thing. And that's why I like to get coffee in the morning with people and toggle that because I that that's the way to start my day. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 28:03

So I I want to go off on a little bit of a tangent here, which is um the idea. You want to do that now? Yeah, you're like, we're all we're already done with the the episode. Um, no, which is um, and this is something I need to work on. I'm guilty of this, but uh memorizing scripture. Um, as a teacher, uh, we learn about you know how people learn. Um, and one of the things you have to do if you want to learn how to talk good, uh you gotta know your ABCs, right? And that's not something that is like logical. It's literally something you have to memorize. If you want to be good at calculus, you gotta be good at your multiplication tables first. And that's not something that, again, is completely logical. It's you have to memorize those things. We're talking about it here, you know, in Psalms in Joshua, um, the idea of memorization. I I think if we spent more time working on memorizing scripture, we that would add a lot to the way that we talk on a daily basis. Um what do you guys think about that?

SPEAKER_02 29:04

I think it would be a cop-out for me to say that I have a bad memory, and that's always something that I've struggled with is to recall uh-huh uh scriptures verbatim or and recall stories in the Bible. I I kind of just after a certain amount of time, it all drifts away. Yeah, I think I kind of just think, okay, I have a bad memory. Um, I wasn't blessed with that ability, but I like I said, I do think that may be a cop out because I'm also not writing it on my doorpost. You know, I'm not making it more available. Um, I'm not seeing that as a challenge. I'm not working on that. Um and so I don't think I've placed a lot of effort in the memorization because I just could say, well, I'm just not good at memorizing. Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_01 29:49

No, I didn't I think that you can address that if it's important. You know, you know, like my our kids in in Bible class, the younger grades, they they memorize scripture, right? That's great. But then somewhere like maybe it's middle school, high school, we just stop. At least in the and and maybe this is my fault as a as a Bible class teacher and as a human, um, it that I'm not emphasizing that like in Bible class. Um, but I but I don't think we should ever stop memorizing scripture.

SPEAKER_02 30:20

I don't see it in the lesson plans very often. Yeah, maybe in the high school realm where we have been teaching. So maybe it is it drops off at some point because we feel like it is uh building blocks, you know, it's it's ground floor building blocks for for for younger kids, um, and for it's for younger kids and preachers. Oh, yeah. But I do think that's a good challenge. I think that's a good thing to figure out how to um incorporate it more because I can remember our tagline, aim to stroke love and good works. You didn't remember that, you just read it off the board. But I mean, if I wasn't looking at it, I could actually get it correctly and not uh not correct Kyle every time he messes it up. But uh I can do that, so why can't I do you know a Bible verse?

SPEAKER_01 31:06

I again and ultimately I just want to bring it back to the point that the idea behind that is to help us in our daily walk that we reflect Jesus and we reflect a genuine relationship with God in the in our speech and the things that we say.

SPEAKER_00 31:23

Well, don't don't don't get um hung up on uh either extreme, either where there's a risk in in misquoting the Bible or a phantom quote. God helps those who help themselves. But where does it actually say that? It it it doesn't. Uh so sometimes if we're too ignorant, we can, but we want to start quoting more Bible scripture. Well, we need to we need to actually memorize scripture, yeah. But don't don't let that stop you either, because one of my favorite examples is Hebrews 2 and verse 6. It has been testified somewhere by his man that you are mindful, he's quotes Psalm 8 there, but he's just like, well, somewhere it says in scripture, he gets the quote right, so that's important, but it's it's not like even a Bible writer didn't quote book, chapter, verse every single time. So it's okay to say, Well, the Bible says this as long as you're confident, that's what it says. Like if you forget the exact book, chapter, verse, and that's that's why I like a real Bible, like physical in your hands, yeah, paper pages. But that is one advantage to having the the Bible apps and things like that on your phone, is if I remember, I just need an approximate knowledge, and I can I can do a quick word search and and find the verse. And so yeah, we can use that to our advantage too. So don't don't feel like until I have everything memorized precisely, I can never I need to I need to keep it bottled up. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 32:47

I'm gonna quote the Bible all the time, and I'm gonna say it says somewhere. That's totally that's totally legitimate. I'm just gonna quote I want to quote the quote, yeah. No, I did that, you know, it says somewhere in uh the some odd verses.

SPEAKER_01 33:01

I did that in a conversation I was having with a coworker recently um where we had disagreed, I uh disagreed on a Bible point, and he knew specific passages, and and I didn't have the specific passages memorized. I had the ideas and I know that they're in there, um, but I didn't have them memorized. So that wouldn't be a tangent though, but like why do you think that's the case? Why does he have it memorized and I don't?

SPEAKER_00 33:23

Well, I found that to be my guess is he has cherry-picked arguments prepped and ready to be. That could be the case.

SPEAKER_02 33:29

That's like instinctively, I feel like I wonder why are uh some other denominations and religions so much more knowledgeable about the Bible than we are sometimes? And is it just is it just recounting rebuffing?

SPEAKER_00 33:43

Well that's what I get when I've studied with Mormons before is they they have a certain set of scriptures that in their mind proves their point, and they have those very well memorized. But I I I think it's easy to call someone out on that if they don't really know the scriptures, they just know some cherry-picked verses out of context.

SPEAKER_02 34:02

It's well, that's why you open it up to that spot, and the best way to approach that. But it's I don't I when you say that, I was just like, is that true? Is just because they can quote passages, does that really mean that they know the Bible uh more, or is it just that they um memorize those particular arguments? Yeah, I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 34:19

It's hard to say. Um I think it probably depends on the person. Uh there are a couple other ideas I wanted to bring bring into our conversation here. Is um one is that we're we're constantly reflecting God. Colossians three says, Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord. Somewhere in Colossians three. Um I think it's 16, 17. So everything we do should be by God's authority. Like he would put his stamp of approval and say, Yeah, I would have said that, or I I approve of of saying that. And then 1 Peter 4 11 says, Whoever speaks as one who speaks oracles of God, whoever serves as one who serves by the strength that God supplies, when the things that we sh say, we should not be ashamed to say them in God's presence. If Jesus were standing next to us, we should be okay with saying those things directly uh in front of him, knowing that everything we are doing, we're reflecting on God, especially if people know that we are believers, Christians, followers of Jesus. I think there's a lot of them out there that are comparing what we say to that idea. He says he is a follower, but he said this or he did that.

SPEAKER_02 35:23

As a Christian, you can't say hurtful and negative things and that still be a reflection of whatever you do in word or deed. Whatever you do in word or deed, dwell in the name of the Lord. Whatever you do, you can't add God or something holy to negative speech. Oh, oh, understood. So I think that if you're trying to add something that's more holy into your speech, I think it challenges your your normal speech. And you can't add God into something that is hurtful and negative and uh prideful and whatever it is. So I think that that kind that's kind of a challenge that to clean up your speech because you can't add God back into that, just like you can't add uh God into a body that's sinful, you know, like he can't dwell there. So you have to clean your speech up. Does that make sense? Yes.

SPEAKER_01 36:11

I don't think you can add God into you can't just you know sprinkle him on the top and say, oh, see, I'm speaking more like a Christian. It's like no, that's the not genuine way to do it, and that doesn't make it right or good. Yeah. In fact, it can make it just the opposite. Like, oh, you claim to be this kind of person and yet you're trashing that guy, or and yet you um are saying these terrible things. It does have a negative effect. Yeah, it makes you go backwards. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It has the opposite effect. You might as well like don't say, don't bring God into it at all.

SPEAKER_02 36:46

Uh so all that work that you did in trying to improve your speech and be more godly is just gonna be uh over which gets back to the heart. Why are you saying those things in the first place? Yeah, but I honestly I I think that doesn't mean that we don't give each other grace in that. Like and people are going, you know, we're gonna we're all going to run on um autopilot sometimes and we're gonna react and we're gonna have emotions and we're gonna not gonna say very godly things. Yeah. Um so I don't I don't think any of us is gonna be perfect in that. I think that's more of a conviction to ourselves is to say, um, hey, I can't God can't dwell in my life in that way and improve in my speech if I've if I'm not willing to remove things from my speech. Yeah. Um and I think that's gonna work gonna be counter to my efforts.

SPEAKER_01 37:32

So I want to um throw in some practical applications here. We've already talked a little bit about these before before we closed. One is um, as Kyle said, pray, pray about this, pray about the things that you want to see different in your life, and ask God for help with the the things that you say. And and secondly, recognize, remember that what we say comes from what's in our heart. And so dwell on the scriptures, read them, memorize them, talk about them, and then think before you speak. I know that's the like we tell our kids that all the time, right? But James 1 19, let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger. Listen closely, listen first, and then only after you've thought about what you're gonna say, then say whatever it is you are going to say. If we think about what we're going to say, Lord willing, we'll bring in more godly things to to the things that that we say. Are there any other practical things you guys can think of we should be doing to improve our our speech, to be more godly in our speech?

SPEAKER_00 38:39

I think just incorporate good questions. It's not about it's not always about I have something smart or wise to say. Yeah. But as you read through the Bible, which you should be, and I think that is you a point you made earlier is that what you say and what you talk about is a reflection of what's what your heart values and cherishes most. So as we read through scripture, you're going to be challenged by certain things. You're going to maybe not understand things. That's an easy way to do this. It's not just about, well, you know, I've got something smart to say, or this person's struggling, I know exactly what to say to help them, or I'm going to lead a prayer with this person. Sometimes it could just be as simple as, hey, I was reading in Galatians the other night and I came across this phrase, what do you guys think it means? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 39:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 39:25

Or maybe you're here, here's your first starter. Um, go have a conversation and ask someone, what do you think it means for your speech to be uh seasoned with salt? There's a conversation starter. You can just ask a question and see where it goes, and you're bringing God into the conversation. It doesn't mean you have to know all the answers and have something smart to say. Just make it part of your dialogue and you can learn from what other people have to say.

SPEAKER_01 39:49

You know, that reminds me, Kyle, someone plants and then you know he goes away or whatever, and he comes back the next morning and it's grown, right? You plant the word and you don't always know how it's going to grow, but that's not the growth, isn't your job. Your job is just to plant the idea, plant the word. Um, and so when we ask these good questions, um, or just you know, maybe not even good questions, just questions about godly things. Maybe we're planting a seed just by doing that. Ultimately, we are not trying to sound like religious people. We're trying to sound like people who walk with Jesus every day. Well, we talked about it earlier. Why don't we say a prayer? All right, let's pray. Our loving Father in heaven, we come to you, and uh, we are grateful for this opportunity to um discuss how you would have us to talk each day. And we pray that more and more each day our speech would be filled with the things that bring you glory and point back to you and and plant seeds. This is our prayer in Jesus' name. Amen.

SPEAKER_00 40:54

Well, thank you, everybody, for listening, and thank you, Nate, for bringing up a uh a good topic for heading into the new year. Let's all work on incorporating um our faith into our daily conversations with people. Let's let's make that something evident. We're not trying to draw uh uh attention to ourselves, but let's make that evident to the whole world. Let's let our light shine and the the topics we choose to discuss and have conversations over and the way we spend our time and how much we read the Bible. And uh, if you'd like to have some spiritual dialogue yourself, look us up on social media and um join the conversation in the comments section, and that's a really good place to start. We love your feedback, and it really helps us pick out topics for future episodes. So thanks for listening. Please like, share, and subscribe, and we'll see you next time.

SPEAKER_03 41:44

Boom.

SPEAKER_02 41:49

Uh, James Cameron saw the fire and ash or whatever, but Kyle loved it. 18 stars out of five.

SPEAKER_01 42:00

Are you being facetious?

SPEAKER_02 42:02

No, he actually literally liked it.

SPEAKER_01 42:03

When Kyle likes a movie, I feel like it's the a really good movie because Kyle, you you've got a very keen eye for movies. Come on. Well, he's he's got he's got thoughts on them.

SPEAKER_02 42:16

He definitely has thoughts.

SPEAKER_01 42:17

I just know whether I like a movie or don't, and I can't really tell you why.

SPEAKER_02 42:23

Definitely him and Barnes both have thoughts on movies. I John just automatically hates I don't even know why I can pay the money to go anymore. Um no, I think I liked I liked it it was okay, and then the more that we talked about it, the more I didn't like it, the more we talked about it. What is it? What is it about? Let's literally a shot-by-shot remake of the second one. Avatar. Second what? Avatar. Oh, it's a shot-for-shot remake. Got it. I'm glad we didn't watch it in 3D because I would have been sick. Like that was it's like a three-hour movie. Oh, is it?

SPEAKER_01 43:03

Three hours watching something in 3D is my kids can't watch Lord of the Speaking of Three Hour movies. My kids can't watch Lord of the Rings now.

SPEAKER_02 43:11

Oh, really?

SPEAKER_01 43:11

Brooklyn got freaked out by Gollum. She didn't sleep for like three nights.

SPEAKER_02 43:14

Oh no.

SPEAKER_01 43:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 43:16

That's a shame because Yeah. We literally just went through all three this last week. Did you really? Yeah, James was on a kick. Show us. James is older, but he's been loving it for many years. His his like the thing that would probably make his millennium is um getting the Rivendale Lego set. Is it Rivendale or Rivendell? Dell? Okay, you're great. Um why am I thinking? Okay, that's a stupid show.

SPEAKER_00 43:45

Or if you want Rivendale. Or in the Elven tongue, it's Imladris. Imladris.

SPEAKER_01 43:51

Or the Rings once. Would you rather live in the Shire, Rivendell or Gondor? Rivendell. Yeah, I mean it's really like amazing, but I feel like it's pretty protected.

SPEAKER_02 44:05

Pretty protected by uh everything.

SPEAKER_00 44:07

I like it. Yeah, but it's full of like 2,000-year-old elves who are just tired of living and it would get really boring. And you remember in The Hobbit when they go there and all they have to eat is salad, and the dwarves are like, Do you think they have any meat? Yeah. I think I think the Shire I think the Shire would be the most fun.

SPEAKER_02 44:27

Uh those are good folk. You want a six-foot-something man in the Shire.

SPEAKER_01 44:33

When Gandalf comes to town, it's a party. That's right. It is a party. Just so you guys know, I haven't eaten it in 36 hours. So you're doing it fast? No. Yeah. No, uh, it's just uh uh we're between checks.

SPEAKER_02 44:55

Uh how's that going? Uh pretty good. For health purposes or for the reasons Kyle did is it is it to make us feel inadequate like when Kyle did it?

SPEAKER_00 45:06

I did 80 hours last time.

SPEAKER_01 45:07

Nice, nice.

SPEAKER_00 45:09

Just over three days.

SPEAKER_01 45:10

Because I told you I did 60 something, and you're like, I'm gonna beat you. He was a pain in the butt during the time. I mean, how crouchy.

SPEAKER_02 45:16

I met them at lunch. Uh crouchy, and I I got offended that he wasn't eating, so I just ate something real.

SPEAKER_00 45:23

We went to Doghouse, and they literally brought the wrong food for James, and they're like, Well, here you have it. And I was like, No, get it away from me. You went to a restaurant while you were fasting? Yeah. Doghouse. Do you know the smells in that? That's hard.

SPEAKER_01 45:37

That that is hard to do. I have done that, and that is very difficult. Everybody's eating, they're like, Why aren't you eating? And I'm like, shut up.

SPEAKER_02 45:45

Well, I guess I he didn't like walk in and make a make a claim for that he wasn't eating. So I just assumed like He was. He he Yeah, and so then when he did or anything, I'm like, what's going on? And then I had to mock him.

SPEAKER_01 46:01

Yeah. Obviously. Well, I always think of that about that passage where it says, you know, when you fast, don't don't tell everybody and wash your wash your face and go out there and be normal. Book chapter verse on that. Yeah. Well, I just I'll I'll I'll chat GPT it. I'll find it for you, bro. Come on. Come on. Um and uh and so then I don't want to say anything, but I just said something. So everybody, come look at how good I look. You didn't answer your question though.

SPEAKER_02 46:27

Are you doing it for health reasons or for I mean primary?

SPEAKER_01 46:31

I went to I went for a cruise. I ate 4,000 calories a meal. But dude, you you cold plunged. Like that's what I'm saying.

SPEAKER_02 46:36

Did you get some lobsters? Oh bro. That already sets you at a different level. Yeah. What's that? Did I cold plunge? It already sets you in a different level. Like stop making everything. Most people stop making it.

SPEAKER_01 46:51

Everybody, that's false pride. I'm really humble. Extremely humble. Yeah. Let me tell you about my humility. Um well, John, do you want to introduce the topic or you just want to keep talking? We can keep talking.