“I, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand, which is how I write in every letter.”
2 Thessalonians 3.17
The apostle Paul dictated his letters to an amanuensis, or secretary. See Romans 16.22. At the end, he personalized and verified it by writing a line in his own hand.
Let our communications be personal and secure. What measures can I take to do that?
The common abbreviation in Internet language, tl;dr, means “too long; didn’t read.” It refers to an extensive text that the person did not feel like taking the time to read. The abbreviation sometimes prefaces a short summary of a longer text. Continue reading
I tried the P2 theme that we use here, as well as a number of spinoffs and child themes, on my personal blog. Didn’t work quite so well, but I may come back to the idea later.
I wound up using the Writr theme, which is nice, but not everything I need (want?) in a theme. Never satisfied, are we? You can take a peek at the new theme here.
The P2 theme has been quite good for our needs here at TFR. There are a few bugs, but that’s par for the course when it comes to software. (It’s the norm for MS, but that’s another battle.) WordPress is an amazing tool to have at our disposal.
So in all, we’re thankful to have this means of communication. And to have our Fellows contributing their good content.
I thought that since we are trying to improve our skills in communication that it would be good to simply look at the biblical rules for communication. No doubt, we will not cover them all, but if you are interested in actually improving, these are rules by which you can measure your communication skills.
James 1:19: Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak and slow to wrath.
James 3:10: Out of the same mouth proceeds blessing and cursing. My brethren these things ought not to be so.
Matthew 5:37: But let your communication be yea, yea; nay,nay: for whatsoever is more than this comes from sin.
Psalm 1:1: Blessed is the man that walks not in the counsel of the ungodly.
Matthew 12:36-37: every idle word that men shall speak they shall give an account therefore in the day of judgment. For by thy words thou shall be justified, and by thy words thou shall be condemned.
Matthew 12:34:… Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.
1 Peter 3:10: For he that will love life, and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips that they speak no guile.
1 John 3:18: My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.
James 1:26: If any man among you seems to be religious, and bridles not his tongue, but deceives his own heart, this man’s religion is vain.
Colossians 4:6: Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt.
Ephesians 4:26: Be angry and sin not.
Ephesians 4:29: Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.
Proverbs 13:3: He that keeps his mouth keeps his life, but he that opens wide his lips shall have destruction.
There have been some great communicators in our world. Let’s determine that we will be good and godly communicators.
—Mike Glenn
3-5 Paul Before Felix
There is only one verse and one point that I want to consider for our study tonight. These thoughts are particular addressed to the many folks on this list who are trying to take the gospel to their family, friends and neighbors. The verse is Acts 24:25. This is the statement of both the effort Paul made to communicate the gospel to Felix and the results of that effort.
The point that I want to make is this: Good communication does not always bring the desired result. Paul presented the gospel so well in this audience before Felix that Felix felt its power and trembled at the fear of the judgment to come. Yet, he was not moved to obey the gospel. Sometimes Christians become dissatisfied with themselves because they believe that if they had said just the right thing, if they had communicated the truth in a better way, the person with whom they are working would have obeyed.
It is true that some people are better communicators than others. Some have a personality which others feel compelling. However, no one who has communicated the truth in love has failed in their communication. The power of the gospel teacher does not lie in the wisdom of words (1 Cor. 1:17) nor in the persuasive power of enticing words (1 Cor. 2:4). Paul obviously effectively communicated the gospel to Felix. But Felix did not allow the power of the gospel’s words to work in convicting him. The failure was his, and later, Festus’ and later, Agrippa’s.
When it comes to communicating the gospel, we want to do our best. And then we want to leave the increase to the power of God.
—Mike Glenn
After Richard M.’s good word to the Forthright Mag staff earlier (today? — it’s been a long week), methinks going for quicker, smaller, shorter posts is often a good thing. (This after I just bled out 750 words on my Journey entry over on my blog.) The attention span of this generation can’t even abide 15 minutes of fame or a day’s attention to Marco Rubio’s swig of bottled water. Not to say that longer treatises are passé, but the more we can get to the point, and make our point cogently, concisely, and powerfully, the more audience we may gain. What say you?
Professor Hans Jurgens asked 5,000 German husbands and wives how often they talked to each other. After two years of marriage, most of them managed 2 or 3 minutes of chat over breakfast, about 20 minutes at supper and a few more minutes before retiring. By the sixth year, it was down to 10 minutes a day. By the 8th year of marriage, a state of almost speechlessness was reached. Surely, this sad lack of communication contributes to the skyrocketing divorce rate. Marriage experts tell us that there are “three C’s” that are the keys to successful marriages: commitment, communication, and cohesion. When couples stop communicating, the marriage already has one strike against it. The other two usually come in short order. If you want to have a successful marriage, start by talking to each other; not shouting, not insulting, not nagging, sut simple communication. “What God hath joined together let not man put asunder.” This is Just-a-Minute with Ed Boggess
WordPress now shows country origin of visitors in its statistics reports. That reminds me again that we are speaking to the world.
Today’s visitors came from such diverse places as Serbia, France, Germany, India, Nigeria, and Saudi Arabia, besides the places we might expect such as the US, UK, Canada, Australia, and (can I add my country here?) Brazil.
With that in mind, and off the top of my head, I want to remember to do the following:
Maybe you have a suggestion or two to add to the list.
Tell us about a recent moment when you felt ignored, when your words fell on deaf ears, or when you spoke and nobody paid attention. (Kinda like the Nudge some days.) Parents with teens say this is a common phenomenon.
Communication can sometimes be a risky enterprise; always a challenge.
I’m batching it this weekend, wife and daughter gone to women’s retreat. Easy recipes, anyone?
I hope you will read my new article, Trusting Our Loved Ones It is advanced relationship training. It solves a key problem related to how we communicate with one another. Should we have to start over every day or does our history together matter?
As I discussed with Randal, the ability to write fiction is allowing me to dig deeper on some subjects. That is the power of prose. I look forward to your insight on this challenging aspect of our relationships.
My style of communication is similar to the style found in the Bible – straight and to the point. Don’t mince any words, get it said, and get it done. Not a very popular style in today’s “politically correct” crowd, but one that is sorely needed. In His dealings with people, our Lord’s style was very direct and to the point. He didn’t need CNN or Fox News to interpret what he said – folks knew exactly what he said and the meaning thereof.
If we will be skilled at social interaction, we must curtail and control our pet peeves, lest they gain a life of their own and devour us.
Have you ever been talking to someone on the phone and while they talk, you wash a few dishes, dust the furniture, and turn to holler at the kids now and then? How about chatting online? Have you ever carried on conversations with two or three people simultaneously? How about four or five people? In this day and age, multitasking has reached new heights, and ironically, with the many different tools we have at hand to supposedly aid in communication, it seems that many people lack the ability to communicate on a deeper level. It has been said “You cannot truly listen to anyone and do anything else at the same time.” I think there’s some truth to that statement.
Ralph Nichols once said “The most basic of all human needs is the need to understand and be understood. The best way to understand people is to listen to them.” It seems like some people are people magnets. Somehow others are drawn to them. Folks always want to bounce ideas off them, discuss various problems, and bare their souls to these individuals. Perhaps one of the reasons is that they listen. But I wonder, who listens to them?
The next time you engage in a conversation, give some thought to how you listen. Try to focus your attention solely on the person with whom you are conversing at least for a few minutes. Don’t be so quick to express every thought and opinion. Don’t formulate your next sentence in your mind, while the other person is still talking. Instead, take the time to really listen. You just may learn something.
This is the latest article regarding the social network called “Twitter”:
http://www.itworld.com/mobile-amp-wireless/93692/twitter-fad-over-its-about-time
The article brings out the fact that only those who are die hard Twitter users remain faithful in using the service.
A quote from the article:
“The trend-followers, Oprah fans, curious tire kickers and others have gotten bored or frustrated and wandered away. Meanwhile, the kinds of people who can take advantage of Twitter are really getting into it and getting more out of it.”
Personally, I like the quick and concise communication concept of Twitter. You can’t “beat-around-the-bush” on Twitter. You’ve got to get what you want said in as few words as possible – not like the never ending talk shows on T.V.
It’s a very quick and practical way of promoting your congregation’s web site, a personal blog, or any other medium of spreading the gospel of Christ. We need to take advantage of every opportunity and means we have at our disposal in promoting the saving gospel of Christ – Twitter is one of those means.
Mike Brooks discusses communication for missionaries and in relation to Christ and his mission.