Con‧ver‧sa‧tion ~ "informal interchange of thoughts, oral communication between persons." Too often we get obsessed with the sound of our own voices. When it comes to communication in relationships, most of us are good at making conclusions, corrections and comments. But very few of us are good at the lost art of conversation.
In communicating your thoughts there are only 2 choices...
- Monologue ~ where the only voice heard is our own.
- Dialog ~ where we exchange ideas with others.
The bible describes people who use more monologue than dialog as foolish ~ read for yourself.
Jesus was not only the greatest communicator who ever lived, but He was also the greatest conversationalist who ever lived. Jesus leveraged the power of personal conversations to...
~ Reveal His identity to people who were spiritually far from God...here's an example.
~ Help people take their next spiritual steps...here's an example.
~ Develop His disciples into growing leaders...here's an example.
Instead of telling others how to think or what to believe, we'd be wiser to follow Jesus' example of using the art of conversation. Following Jesus' method of conversation is a simple as A, B, C...
Ask good questions ~ For someone who knew everything, Jesus sure asked a lot of questions. In fact, He asked 183 of them. Jesus asked personal questions, unsettling questions, re-aligning questions, and transforming questions.
Too often we give people answers to solve their problems instead of using questions to draw them into a conversation. Jesus used questions in conversation to get people to open up and engage Him in deep and personal exchange.
Be a good listener ~ Jesus always "heard" what were saying in response to His questions. All too often, we use the time when others are talking just to figure out what we're going to say next. Jesus modeled hearing people by listening to them.
I am constantly amazed at how often I encounter people interrupting each other in conversation. OK ~ I'm just as guilty. What I'm saying is that I'm not a very good listener - how about you? Take this quiz to see for yourself.
Clarify God's truth ~ Jesus always helped people understand what God already said. More than anything, people need to hear God's voice, not our opinions or advice. To those who were struggling ~ His conversation was comforting. But to those who were self-serving ~ His conversation was discomforting.
God has spoken...all the rest is conversation. We're never more like Jesus than when we leverage the power of conversation to help people discover, process, and engage in the greatest dialog ever ~ the one that's going on between their heart and God's.
