Part 2 in To Live A Holy Life Series
Anyone who knows my family, knows we love to talk. I have inherited this from not one, but both sides of my family.
My papaw would talk your ears off about gardening, working, the Lord, and anything else that crossed his mind. I remember him being in the hospital a lot growing up. Every time he would be the orneriest person there, always having something funny to say to the nurses and doctors. You never would find him not having talked to one of them about the Lord though.
On my mom’s side, my pops can seem to be a very quiet man. If you are talking about art, music, or what you did today - you may only get a drawn out “well, that’s good,” or “yeah.” But you get him talking about work or the Lord and he keeps his words drawn out, but you may not get a word in edgewise. The passion of what he is talking about is evident.
My aunts and nanas love to talk about anything and everything. I absolutely love talking about the Lord with them. The encouragement, passion, and love that overflows is absolutely beautiful. I have been so blessed that so many in my family live for God.
You can tell what kind of person someone is by what they talk about.
Luke 6:45 says, “A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh.” What is in our hearts is what is going to be spoken.
If we think about all the negative things in life, that’s exactly what your words are going to become. Negative. That’s why there are so many books out about thinking positively. Think positive. Be positive. Speak positive.
Ever heard the phrase “you are what you listen to”? Whatever you consume, whatever you let your mind think about, transforms you even if in a small way.
You want to be encouraging to others? Put encouragement in your heart. Listen to encouraging words, read Psalms, think about things that encourage you.
You want your conversation to be holy? Strive to be holy. Dive into the Word to draw close to God.
Whatever you want your speech to be like, you have to first become.
Oxford Languages describes communication as “the successful conveying or sharing of ideas and feelings.”
The key to successfully living for God, in maintaining healthy relationships with others, and in life in general is in communication.
Without it, confusion roars its ugly head. How often we fail to communicate with others and it just leaves a mess. Working for almost any business, you have interaction with customers. If you were to think the project was supposed to look this way, and the customer is imagining something completely different, how do you think that will go? The customer is going to become upset at the final result, you are going to be frustrated that it wasn’t clearly laid out, and you have to restart with communication.
Same goes for the church. Bro. So-and-so usually plays piano on Sunday nights, but this week he was sick and didn’t think to let the pastor or worship leader know he wouldn’t be able to make it to service. Prayer service comes to a close and Bro. So-and-so is nowhere to be found. Frantically the leaders search for a replacement with hopes they are spiritually ready to minister in music that evening. They try to hide their disappointment and irritation as service begins. We sing, “You’re God of the hills and valleys.” Well, there were a lot of hills and valleys in that worship service.
If Bro. So-and-so had communicated with leadership about not being able to play piano that night, the situation would have gone a lot smoother. There would have been no hindrance fighting against the church at the beginning of service and worship service would have been much more focused.
It doesn’t matter what kind of day you have, you will have a conversation at least once a day. Whether at work, church, the grocery store, or home. Is our conversation holy no matter where we’re at or who we’re speaking with?
1 Peter1:15 says, “But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation;”
Holiness is more than our appearance.
Multiple times in the Bible God says to be holy because He is holy. I have found anytime God repeats Himself it is a pretty serious thing to take into account. If we want to be holy as God has commanded us to be, then our words have to be as well. Jesus wouldn’t speak in hate or with slander, so why should we?
Jesus is a communicator.
You can see the evidence of that through the perfectly orchestrated writing of the Bible and when He speaks to us through others, life, and that gentle whisper. There is no confusion in His word. As 1 Corinthians 14:33 says, “For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints.”
What was Jesus’ conversation like?
Reading throughout the New Testament you will find that most of His conversations happened in the day-to-day life. People’s homes and in the roads through his travels seem to be where a majority of them took place. He wasn’t sitting at the church or on his bed wondering when someone was going to come so he could heal them, perform a miracle, or change their life. He actively sought to be available. People did come to Him after they began hearing about the Man who could cause the blind to see, the lame to walk, and the dumb to talk. Their needs drew them to Him. Jesus was in the streets healing, teaching, delivering. That’s where the people found Him.
Are we where the people can find us? Do they even know who we are, whose we are?
I want my conversation to be holy. I don’t want to give someone any reason not to listen to me, because all they’ve heard me say is negativity, slander, and lies. I want what I say to be pure, kind, godly.
I encourage us to have holy conversations. It all starts on the inside. We have to be holy to speak holy.
May you have a blessed day!
If you haven’t already, subscribe to the blog to receive notifications when new ones are posted! I plan on doing some other types of blogs during the week about life in general coming soon.
P.S. I am so ecstatic about the guest blog for next week! I have a wonderful lady of God that is writing what's on her heart. I know we are going to be so blessed by her words!
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