This past week I have been thinking a lot about communication--how we do it, how to do it well, and how if Jesus is our life then even our communication should be filled with His grace and truth.
At the same time I have felt my heart drawn to the gospels because although all of Scripture is God-breathed and IS profitable, in the four gospels we have something very precious--glimpses of the days that the King of Glory walked this earth! He interacted with other people--He communicated His truth to human hearts. He responded to numerous requests. He entered into discussion that was not always easy or well received.
So what does looking at the life of Jesus teach us about how we communicate with one another? Here are just a few thoughts from John 1.
1)"The Word became flesh and dwelt among us." --Communication can only happen in community. Just as Jesus came and dwelt among us we must dwell with those that we are called to love.
2) Jesus' first question for the disciples who followed Him was "What are you seeking?" --He cut to the heart of their desire, drawing them out to consider their need.
3). His next words were "Come and see." --an invitation to life together. We show love, we demonstrate Christ only in allowing others to enter in and see Him whom we love and serve. There is vulnerability require to invite someone to join the journey.
4) Jesus renamed Peter--and it struck me that He also renames us and allows us to take part in the renaming process in each others lives. We hear the world, and the flesh, tell us that our name is Failure, Loser, Unlovable, Unforgivable. But Jesus gives us a new name--Redeemed, Beloved, Precious, Forgiven and He ask us to join Him in calling our brothers and sisters by their new name--lest we forget!
5) Jesus shows grace even to the ungraceful. --When the Lord calls Nathanael through Philip, Nathanael responds bluntly, and perhaps with a bit of judgmental-ism, and cynicism--"Can any good thing come out of Nazareth." And yet when Jesus meets him He says, "Behold an Israelite in whom there is no guile." If I was Jesus I would have had something very different to say to Nathanael but Jesus shows him grace and even speaks good of Nathanael.
6) The last verse of the chapter finds Jesus bluntly revealing who He is--and that struck me because I always that thought that Jesus waited until closer to the cross to start revealing His person and His plan to the disciples but clearly here He states that He is the Son of Man--the way to heaven. Likewise we should be transparent with one another and we should pray that the Lord would allow us to be a part of revealing Him to the hurting, broken, lost world around us.
As a post-script to this-- I realized after I wrote it and was thinking about it for a while that the beauty here is that this is also our model for how to fulfill the Great Commission. This is how our Lord made disciples and what better model can we follow!
