This was part of a weekly wisdom on ChristNotes that I copied down a while ago and found today while cleaning out documents on my computer. I really liked it and needed to read it today. It was good for me.
'Far too often, many Christians view evangelism as a game involving "me", the Christian, vs. "you", the non-Christian. However, reaching unbelievers effectively usually requires working with them in order to develop a relationship based on trust, and any relationship requires listening to the other person in order to find out where they are spiritually and emotionally. When you authentically listen to others, they will genuinely listen to you.
In Romans 12:10, Paul writes, 'Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves.' To honor other people means respecting them, which includes listening to them. In fact, simply by listening attentively to someone you show that you care about that person: you place value on them.
Remember, people listen to people who listen.'
I do an awful lot of listening to people - which is great, because I love doing so... but sometimes I feel that people aren't willing to reciprocate when I would like an ear or two. This is really not a huge deal, but I find myself disappointed so often that I have come to lower my expectations of people when it comes to that sort of thing. At least I've got the ears of God, they count for like, a thousand ears, at least!
No comments:
Post a Comment