By Danny A. Hernaez
Greetings!
This line from the 1967 film Cool Hand Luke seems almost prophetic in today’s world, “What we have here is failure to communicate.” We have “failure to communicate” in extreme proportions.
A couple of years ago a friend and co-worker gave me a notepad with these words printed at the top: “I KNOW THAT COMMUNICATION IS A PROBLEM, BUT I DON’T WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT.”
We hear it over and over again. “Communication is the key to relationships.” “Communication is what it’s about.” “We have to learn to communicate better.” Many husbands and wives have “failure to communicate.” We have “failure to communicate” in the work place. In our churches we have “failure to communicate.” We preacher-teacher-writer types struggle with issue of “failure to communicate.” We think we’ve done and excellent job of communicating our message only to discover those on the receiving end have gotten a totally different message. We are shocked. “How could they have gotten that message from what I said?” We reason and rationalize: “Surely it is the receiver’s fault. We communicated the message perfectly. They just were not listening well.”
There are many important factors in effective communication: eye contact, body language, voice inflection, tone, rate of speaking, pauses, sighs, laughter, tears, and so on. That is with face-to-face interaction. That is with minimal distractions. The truth is, communication requires sending and receiving, speaking and listening. And it seems no matter how hard we try we continue to have “failure to communicate.” But, “we don’t want to talk about it.”
Our obsession with instant information has created even more challenges to the communication process. A misplaced comma in an email can change the entire message. Those who read these articles regularly know how true that is. (And no you don’t have to point out every mistake you find in this article. Thanks for your grace.) A text message is a terrible way to end a relationship. It is hard to conduct business via voice mail. Is your Facebook wall really where you want to share your deepest struggles? “Tweets” are great, but it is no foundation for a friendship. As flawed as these methods of communication are, they illustrate our strong, and often desperate, desire to connect with other people. Our history is rich with creative efforts used to communicate our feelings for one another.
The story of the Bible is the story of communication. From the beginning the Creator of the Universe shared His heart about and with His creation. “Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.’” (Genesis 1:26) As the creation process continued, the communication continued.
28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.” 29 Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. 30 And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground-everything that has the breath of life in it-I give every green plant for food.” And it was so. 31 God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning-the sixth day.
He has never stopped communicating with us. As His people experienced their wilderness wanderings He communicated His constant presence to them. Through the prophets He communicated His feelings and desires for how He wanted them to live. His ultimate communication with us came when He sent His one and only Son into the world: “He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God – children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God. The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.” (John 1:11-14a)
In spite of all His efforts to communicate with us, we still have difficulty hearing the message. We think our deeds will impress Him. We think our knowledge will please Him. We think our many words will appease Him. As He has communicated from the beginning He still communicates, “I want your heart.”
Remember this part: “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.” He did not post a status update. He did not “retweet” the good news. He did not ask to be added to your professional network. He came to live among us.
Obviously I don’t have the solution to “failure to communicate.” When I do I’ll write the book, sell millions of copies and start writing these articles from my house on beach. Until then, the search for new and better ways to communicate continues. I will continue to look for the newest, fastest, and most efficient methods to get the message out and across. I will continue to struggle with “failure to communicate.” In spite of all our successes and failures in communication, one message has been delivered powerfully and clearly. It is the one piece of communication we cannot afford to miss, or misunderstand. It is God’s message to you and to me. “I love you. I allowed my only Son to die for you. I want to be with you. Please love me.” Or, to put it another way, “I stand at the door and knock.” <(((><
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Holy God, may your love so fill me that I can fully share love
with those I meet each day. May this love grow and increase in me
so that others may readily see its benefits and recognize that it
is a direct response to the lavish love you have shared with me.
Through the power of your Spirit, help my love increase!
In Jesus name I pray. Amen.
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