Quality communication

Jesus called the crowd to him and said, "Listen to me, everyone" (Mark 7:14).

Communication is important; without communication, relationships can’t grow. We have all kinds of tools to help with communication—phones and the Internet, texting and twitter, distant learning and teleconferencing. We have hand-held electronic devices that translate one language into another. With satellites in orbit, we can instantly communicate with people almost anywhere.

Given all this, you’d think that communication would be getting easier. Sadly, though, it’s not. Gone are the days when two friends might while away the hours with a conversation that could wander from politics to sports, from international news to religion, from social problems to literature. These days, everyone is in a rush—there isn’t time to sit down with a friend and talk about life over a cold drink or two.

Time was, politicians could argue about what was best for the country, but at the end of the day most of them would negotiate legislation that both sides could live with. But not any more. These days, politics has become so rigidly partisan that few Democrats or Republicans have the desire or the courage to reach across the aisle and work towards compromise.

When newspapers and magazines were our primary source of information, a writer had the space to explain complicated issues thoroughly. But most people these days get their news from television or the Internet; instead of thoughtful analysis, they are more likely to get controversial ‘sound bites’ that provoke strong emotion but don’t tell the whole story.

We need quality communication. We need to spend time listening and thinking things through before opening our mouths. We need to understand that there are times to fight, but there are also times to negotiate. We need to be flexible enough to accept new ideas. Unless we do these things, we talk at each other instead of to each other.

Most of all, we need to communicate with Jesus. We need to learn from Him by listening to His words; we need to share our problems with Him through prayer. Jesus specializes in communication and relationships. Give Him your time, and He will prove it to you.