What is the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the word communication?
Communication is defined as “the imparting or exchanging of information by speaking, writing, or using some other medium.” It is, “the successful sharing of ideas and feelings,” and “social contact.”
Now that we know what it is, let’s try to understand why it’s important.
There are 5 forms of communication:
1) Verbal
2) Non-verbal/ Interpersonal
3) Written
4) Formal & Informal
5) Visual
A) Obviously verbal communication involves speaking to someone. It can be very easy to understand because of being able to read someone’s body language while also hearing the message they are sharing.
B) Non-verbal or interpersonal communication must be done in person because it depends completely appearance. It’s basically your body language. Even the way you dress and taking care of hygiene influences what message you are communicating to someone through this type of communication.
C) Written communication involves a message that is read by the intended audience. The author sends a letter, an email, a text, or writes a blog for a specific audience with an intended message. This type of communication can be trickier because it can be easily misunderstood since tone of voice and body language cannot aid the author in getting their point across.
D) Communication especially in the written sense can be formal or informal. The purpose of the communication will influence if the author is formal or informal. For example, person will speak and present their message in a different way when telling their best friend a story versus speaking in a business meeting.
E) Communication is also visual. As I said before, your appearance, body language, and expressions will communicate something to whoever you are speaking to. With increases in technology, visual communication does not have to be in person though. I can create content online and use it to send a specific message to someone. It can use a picture and not words only to communicate something to an intended audience.
One important thing to remember is that we are always communicating to people around us whether we realize it or not.
Everything we do is communicating something.
That may seem scary at first, but we don’t have to feel afraid because we can choose what message we are communicating to those around us.
In her book The Old Testament Template, Landa Cope wrote, “Everything God does is communication, and everything you and I do communicates. We are communicators made in the image of a communicating God.” (pg 143).
It is not bad that we are communicators. God designed us to share information with one another. We need to gain information from people and give some to others.
We see God’s way of communicating in His word. The word of God is a revelation of Himself to mankind. How amazing is it that God Almighty wants to communicate with you?! He wants to have conversation and share information with us.
In Old Testament Template Landa wrote, “One great difference between biblical thought and all other worldviews and religions is that Scripture reveals God seeking to communicate with and redeem man, while others help man seek and find God.” (pg 144)
We are not reading the Bible to find a source of inner peace as some other “religious” people do. We are receiving communication from God Himself when he read his word! It’s amazing!
I think we would all agree that God is sovereign right? So, we’re made in God’s image. This means we have been sovereignty as well. Unlike God’s sovereignty, ours is limited though.
Landa also said, “We are sovereign over ourselves.” (144)
God has given us the ability to make our own choices. And this gift of choice extends to communication. It includes what information we are taking in and the information we are conveying to others.
This sovereignty comes into play when we think about what information we choose to accept and which to reject. We are not just sponges who soak up everything communicated to us, but we are actually filters deciding which messages we take as truth and which to forget about.
Landa writes in the Old Testament Template, “The popularity of a given message is a reflection of the audience, not the power of the message itself.” (146)
The audience has a choice to deciding what to do with information and this is part of why people need to understand their ability to filter truth and lies according to God’s word. We must use God’s word as the standard for truth and reject any message that is in opposition to it.
The entire book of Deuteronomy (minus the very last chapter) is a conversation between Moses and the Israelites. This is obvious from the beginning, Deuteronomy 1:1 says, “These are the words that Moses spoke to all Israel…”
But not only do we see communication by Moses and from the Israelites, we also see God communicating in every chapter. This communicating is Him speaking. It’s not a mysterious, mystical experience. God is just speaking to the Israelites and Moses to communicate what He needs them to know.
Sometimes the communication was to direct them in the way to journey like in Deuteronomy 2:3, “You have been traveling around this mountain country long enough. Turn northward.”
Often, God’s communication was instruction for the way that God was calling the Israelites to live. God understood that their lifestyle would communicate something to everyone around them.
Deuteronomy 4:5-6 says, “See, I have taught you statutes and rules, as the Lord my God commanded me, that you should do them in the land that you are entering to take possession of it. Keep them and do them, for that will be your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples, who, when they hear all these statutes, will say, “Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.”
God wanted His people to communicate a message which reflected His character to everyone around them, and we are still called to this kind of living today.
People often believe that words will change people. It is actually a person’s response to words that will bring any kind of change in their mindset or actions.
Landa said in the Old Testament Template, “Words have power, but not the power of control; they have the power of influence.”
God is not manipulative. God will speak to us because of His concern for us, but he never forces us to choose anything. He allows us to choose what we believe and how we choose to live. This is why people can hear the truth of the gospel and not receive it. Words will only influence someone to reach their own conclusions on information they receive.
Although God’s word are not meant to manipulate, we see in Deuteronomy that God did intend for the people to have a response to the words He spoke to them. Deuteronomy 26:16 says, “This day the LORD your God commands you to do these statutes and rules. You shall therefore be careful to do them with all your heart and with all your soul.” God did not want the people to just hear his words. He wanted them to be changed in their heart, so they understood the purpose of what He was communicating to them.
God gave clear communication to the Israelites. First of all, he spoke it them and wrote it down so that they could refer back to it and have it to apply in the future. Deuteronomy 5:22 says, “These words the LORD spoke to all your assembly at the mountain out of the midst of the fire, the cloud, and the thick darkness, with a loud voice; and he added no more. And he wrote them on two tablets of stone and gave them to me.”
Now the Israelites clearly had God’s instruction to them, and they could preserve it for future generations. With the clarity of God’s commands, God also made it possible to understand and therefore apply. Deuteronomy 30:11 says, “For this commandment that I command you today is not too hard for you, neither is it far off.” And this commandment meant obeying God’s voice. God was saying that it was possible to understand His communicated ways of living and actually apply them! God is so good!
Communication must involve at least two people. God is not just communicating to us, but with us as well! Deuteronomy 9:19 says, “But the LORD listened to me that time also.”
God is constantly involving us in his conversation of love, wisdom, and hope for the world.
And once we have God’s truth, we can communicate it to others!
Discipling people in how to filter messages they hear based on God’s truth, which is found in His word, will bring change in our communities.
Remembering that our words have influence should encourage us to share truth while cautioning us to choose words which influence for God’s desired good.
BE A FILTER, NOT A SPONGE!
Note: This from my teaching in BSN I gave today. I highly recommend The Old Testament Template by Landa Cope to you! It has changed my perspective of our job as the church in our world today. One of the main ideas is that God's goal for us goes beyond conversion; He wants to transform ALL of society and not just the individual. I am falling in love with the Old Testament as we are wrapping up the Pentateuch (first five books of the Old Testament) this week. This teaching focused on our culture's sphere of communication. I didn't even get to discussing media, but Landa includes great insight on that in her book. The main point being that media is not in and of itself bad; people corrupt it. It also included the importance of freedom of speech. God's word has more to say about communication, but one of my objectives in this presentation was to use Deuteronomy as a guide because this book actually lays out keys to transforming the eight spheres of society. Ask questions if you want or share insights because I'm so into this study right now!
- Brooke of Love <3