January 14.Would Jesus Use a Cell Phone?

As a leader, what communication improvements are you planning to make this year? Communication or a lack of communication is a large part of our confrontations and challenges in this world. Lack of communication can be like speaking on a call when the signal drops.

It might be that you are calling the wrong number. It can occur because you could be expecting the call when the other party is expecting the call from you as well. Whether a breakdown is large or small, most can be resolved when a clear and open line of communication is established.

But even when an open line is available, we sometimes allow judgment to creep in and destroy the quality of the call. Judgment can be like the static or garbling that can occur on the call. It may take us away from clarity and into an inappropriate and unhelpful perspective.

We often seek to blame or judge the result instead of addressing the communication and perspectives. Have you been ineffective at times to keep the line clear? I know that I have for sure. For some fun, ask all those you know to see who had to use a party line.

Even more judgment could occur with those and there are likely stories to be shared. What can you do to reestablish any of your lines and drop less calls?

In Genesis 27, we hear about how Jacob steals Esau's blessing. How did it occur? Rebekah interrupted the line of communication by faking the entire communication line. Isaac is laying there on his near-death bed; he obviously cannot see or hear too well.

Jacob comes in to ask for the blessing and Isaac is fooled by the communication Jacob gives him. He says the right words, wears the right lambskins, and even smells the part of his brother. Isaac is not sure that he is even hearing correctly. Jacob totally interrupts the lines of communication.

Isaac is fooled and the rest is history. Where are we challenged today with our lines of communication? The person giving the signal needs to start by having a clear message. Focusing on losing little of it to static and judgment will help as well.

The person giving the signal needs to have the attention of the receiver as well. If the receiver is blocked, for whatever reason, even the clearest of messages will not be received. There are many obstacles that can block a receiver. Their attention to the items in their world is first.

Second is our ability to stop what we can of our distractions and get their attention. Do we have the correct destination of where we want our signal to go? There are many possibilities for communication failure. It is a wonder that we get any messages through at all.

We can work at getting better communication going on in our world. If we do not improve it the cost is likely to be very high. We do not want anything keeping us from communicating our love of God to him or to others. What is the first thing that you can do about it in the next seven days?

Let us pray, Father God, help us this day, to be better communicators regardless of whether we are sending the signals or receiving them. Help us to avoid the damaging effects like what happened to Isaac and his sons. Our relationships are too valuable to our hearts and souls.

Remind us that the most important message is Jesus. Jesus, the Son of God, and Son of Man, is the one that carried the cost of our sins to the cross. Keep the lines of communication open and may our calls never drop with him. Let us share our love through our actions and communicate. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen,