Rev. Don Campbell
THOUGHT FOR TODAY, AUGUST 7, 2017: COMMUNICATING
Individuals and organizations alike must constantly be monitoring their communications or fall prey to “communication slippage.” Alan Greenspan who was the Chairman of the Federal Reserve from 1987-2006 once said, “I know you think you understand what you thought I said but I’m not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant.”
Communication is a two-way process in which words only account for a small portion of success—perhaps as low as 7%, with tone, body language, and other factors accounting for the rest. Because of this some counselors and therapists when working with couples insist that before one can comment on something said by the first person the second person must paraphrase—not parrot—what the first person said.
It should not be surprising to us to discover that the Bible has much to say about how we communicate, both verbally and no-verbally. For brevity’s sake, we will consider only those in the Book of Proverbs. We will first read a passage in the English Standard Version and then in The Message, which is a paraphrase.
• A worthless person, a wicked man, goes about with crooked speech, winks with his eyes, signals with his feet, points with his finger, with perverted heart devises evil, continually sowing discord; therefore calamity will come upon him suddenly; in a moment he will be broken beyond healing (Prov 6:12-15). [Riffraff and rascals talk out of both sides of their mouths. They wink at each other, they shuffle their feet, they cross their fingers behind their backs. Their perverse minds are always cooking up something nasty, always stirring up trouble. Catastrophe is just around the corner for them, a total smashup, their lives ruined beyond repair.”]
• “The one who states his case first seems right, until the other comes and examines him” (Prov 18:17). [The first speech in a court case is always convincing—
until the cross-examination starts!]
• “Like a madman who throws firebrands, arrows, and death is the man who deceives his neighbor and says, ‘I am only joking!’ For lack of wood the fire goes out, and where there is no whisperer, quarreling ceases” (Prov 26:18-20). [People who shrug off deliberate deceptions, saying, “I didn’t mean it, I was only joking,”
Are worse than careless campers who walk away from smoldering campfires. When you run out of wood, the fire goes out; when the gossip ends, the quarrel dies down.]
Say what you mean. Mean what you say. At the end of the day, you won’t have to explain it away.
