Wednesday, May 17, 2006

Communication


For the past couple months Sarah and I have been involved in a marriage mentoring class with an experienced couple from our church. It has been a real learning experience and we are not quite half way through the material. This latest block of study has been on communication. I have learned that I am not the great communicator that I thought I was. It has challenged me to look deeper at the elements that make up communication, good and bad, and address them in my life and in Sarah. The thing that prompted this post was a verse that I read in Proverbs. [By the way, if you have not read any or all of the book of Proverbs in the Bible, I highly recommend it.]

Proverbs 10:7-10
He who corrects a scoffer gets dishonor for himself, And he who reproves a wicked man gets insults for himself. Do not reprove a scoffer, or he will hate you, Reprove a wise man and he will love you. Give instruction to a wise man and he will be still wiser, Teach a righteous man and he will increase his learning. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.

Does this mean that we should reserve correction, relative to God's way, for other Christians? Does standing on a street corner telling everyone in earshot to repent or your going to hell really advance God's kingdom? Perhaps we should live out our lives as a follower of Christ and allow that along with the Holy Spirit to work on the unbeliever's heart so that when they do seek we can pour the knowledge of God's love through Jesus into them. I am interested in your thoughts on this.

Humbly,
Demetri

2 comments:

Brian said...

I like Proverbs

Brian said...

oh yeah, and more thoughts...its true that sometimes the only thing you can do is love somebody, because they choose not to listen to your thoughts about what they might be doing wrong.

For those people that dont use the Bible as their standard, we have to be an example to them.