“The 500 most commonly used words in the English language have more than 14,000 definitions.” So wrote Harvey Mackay in last week’s St. Louis Business Journal. “To make communications really work, we have to make sure the people we’re talking with understand what we are saying as well as we do” (p. 16).
Business and church are different in deep ways, but since both involve people, both benefit from good communication skills. Although you or your pastor have said something that is theologically true, biblically accurate, the truth may not have been communicated. Imagine you’re dying and don’t know Jesus. Someone tells you the Gospel in a foreign language you don’t understand. Where do you end up? The Bible promises us that the Word of God works (Isaiah 55:10-11), but that’s only when it’s understood by the hearer. In the same vein, much of the theological talk we use is not understood by others, especially in our “post-church” America. Sin, forgiveness, justification, mercy, spiritual… To paraphrase Mackay, the most commonly used theological words have many definitions for many people. Let’s make sure they understand the truth we offer their dying souls.
Only the Holy Spirit works faith in the Gospel. However, we have the responsibility to speak in an intelligible way, to gain a hearing so that the Spirit can get down into the dying heart.
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