As Christians, what Jesus asks of us is quite simple. He pretty much wants us to do two things:
- Follow and love God
- Love others
Both of these commandments seem easy, but are actually super difficult sometimes, and it would take way more than one article to cover what these mean for us today!
I don’t know about you but I talk a lot. Like a lot, and it has been a real challenge and joy to learn that what I say, and the way in which I have conversations, can be influenced by my relationship with Jesus.
How?
Firstly, include Jesus! Your faith doesn’t always naturally fit into conversation, and that’s ok! You can still be on the look out for opportunities to chat about what you believe: talking about current events, what you did on Sunday, chatting to a friend or family member about the rough time they are going through, what you think of controversial topics – all these can be great starters for sharing God’s love with people.
We also need to try and make a habit of putting others first in our conversation. It’s so tempting, and such an unnoticeable habit, to always bring the conversation back to ourselves.
I was definitely guilty of this for a long time!
Whatever the other person says, it’s so easy to bring it back to a story about your life or what you think of such and such. Changing this is tough but they key is to always leave the conversation having learnt more about that person than they have about you, and having always tried to listen more than you talked.
This is different with everyone you chat to, if you’re talking to a close friend about something that’s on your mind, then it’s natural you would talk more about yourself and that’s totally ok! Or if the other person isn’t a talker, you might have to prop the conversation up a little – again, totally fine! I’m so sure that Jesus made everyone he spoke to feel like they were the most important person in the world, try and make it your aim for people you speak with to feel the same way.
If we can eliminate speaking negatively about others, self-centred speech and speech that would suggest you were uninterested in faith or Jesus, and replace it with speech that uplifts Jesus and others, I guarantee people will notice!
Surrounded by social media, people these days crave a significant connection with someone, and you never know how God is going to use you and what you say to influence someone else, so use our words wisely and remember your tongue “has the power of life and death” – Proverbs 18v21.
