By Chris WittsThursday 12 Jan 2023Morning Devotions with Chris WittsFaithReading Time: 1 minute
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Transcript:
Napoleon once said – “There are two powers in the world the sword and the pen, and in the end, the former is always conquered by the latter.” Benjamin Franklin also said, “Give me 26 lead soldiers and I’ll conquer the world.”
What were they talking about? They were talking about the power of communication. The power of words to speak doesn’t actually guarantee that I have communicated.
And to communicate means the person who’s listening has actually heard and understood. That’s what I’m doing this morning, I hope, communicating. So it’s more than words. Sure, we can use words badly. But words, if they’re used wisely, can actually move people more than mountains.
And, of course, what else can words do? They can inspire. They can encourage or they can aggravate people and they can discourage people. We can move people to love us, and others can hate us so lots of things can happen with words.
Let’s consider this morning the fact that God himself uses words to communicate spiritual truth. Do you know, for example, that we read in Romans 10:17, these words – “Faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ.”
So if words are used sincerely, they, of course, can be very effective in leading people to think about some sort of subject or topic or a principle they can teach, and they can help in relationships. We don’t have to be gifted orators to communicate very well.
All we have to do is use simple words to be authentic, genuine, sincere, the things that are called emotional word pictures. That’s what some of the counsellors talk about. Emotional word pictures. So let’s face it, emotion without emotion, persuasion can actually bore us to tears. It might be logic. What we’re saying is logic, but it doesn’t have any feeling to it. It really doesn’t affect us very well.
We make decisions, of course, not so much with our heads and what we know, but primarily with our heart and how we feel. Logic, of course, can tell us what to do. But emotion is what moves us to do it. So we’re talking about emotional word pictures, and some people are very good at it. Abraham Lincoln was one person. Winston Churchill. He used this method to inspire people.
Jesus actually spoke to the people in what they call parables or stories, and we read that the common people (that’s the ordinary person) heard Jesus gladly. He talked about the farmer who was sowing some seeds along the way side, He said, The birds came and ate, and we have the story there. It’s in Matthew 13. You can read about that, and Jesus gave a very powerful message. Here He was showing that the wayside soil represents those people who totally ignore God’s word. Spoke about the stony soil, those who listen to God’s word for a while. In the thorny soil those who eventually leave God’s way due to other pressures. And then he spoke finally about the good soil, and this is an amazing and a very good example of emotional word pictures.
So, if you are into communication in any way, you want to get an important message across. Use emotional word pictures, so do it through a story or an illustration, because that’s what Jesus did, and you can create your own parable. There’s another rule for effective use of words, and that’s what the Bible says. For example, in Ephesians 4:15, it says to speak the truth in love. That is, when we speak, we need to be certain that we’re not being judgmental or critical, blaming others.
We read in Scripture that God says to us, I have loved you with an everlasting love. So here’s a very nice word picture there. Jesus says, Take my yoke upon you. So here it is words that are used. Why not think about that today?
Let’s Pray
Well, Lord, we’re grateful today for your mercy and your faithfulness, and we know that you are listening to us and you’re waiting for us to call you. So, we praise you for a new opportunity and a new day, and we offer this prayer in the name of Jesus. Amen.