LIFE SPEAKS TO US

By Bill C. Dotson

COMMUNICATION...is an act or instance of transmitting information verbally or written between individuals, human or otherwise. The animal, fowl or fish world have their own means. Husbands and wives, parents and teenagers, teachers and pupils, coaches and athletes; all interacting differently but for the same purpose-communicating ideas, thoughts, feelings and much more. The art of listening enters in big time! For unless what one is transmitting is heard, understood or properly received, the message fails and it's just two people talking and nobody listening.

A previous boss had a saying on the back of his business cards. The credit goes to Robert McCloskey and he puts it so well. 'I know you believe you understand what you think I said, but I am not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant.' Huh? Communication is difficult at best. Body language and perception enter in; not counting dialects and cultural differences.

You may be asking; what does this have anything to do with the creation or general revelation? Everything! The very first thing God did was speak and everything came into existence. He communicated! And there does not seem to be any misunderstanding. He actually said it was good, very good! I got the message; did you?

Psalm 19 was the catalyst for Life Speaks to Us. "The heavens declare...the skies proclaim...they pour forth speech...they display knowledge...no speech or language where voice is not heard...voice goes out into all the earth...their words to the end of the world." Can it be any clearer than that? He tells us that man is without excuse. He's been told through general revelation, but has he been listening? Then Jesus communicated to mankind what His Father was like. "And I have declared to them Your name, and will declare it, that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them." Jn 17:26 What He emphasized is; My Father is all about love and relationship! Jesus told them that if they did not believe His words, at least believe His miraculous works. They spoke loudly and clearly!

Prayer is God's gift for us to communicate with Him. And the Word is His primary means of speaking to us. But those are not left with us to go it on our own. Just like the Lord to think of His creatures down here trying to figure out this life and the one to come by giving us a counselor, teacher, illuminator. The Holy Spirit is all that. He is THE COMMUNICATOR! Jesus could have not been more clear than what He said this to His disciples about the Spirit. "These things I have spoken to you while being present with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things I said to you." Jn 14:25,26 (underline my emphasis) Do you see this? All things!  The Spirit is still doing this and will until Christ returns.

Friends, there is only one thing the Spirit is communicating and it is this. "Christ died for our sins and rose from the dead." That's the cross, the empty tomb, the gospel! And while we may say many things, we are only to boast in one. THE CROSS! Nothing else matters if this is not true. Do you hear it and believe it? It shouts at us. The Christ, incarnate in the flesh, paid the penalty for our sins and freed us to have a reconciled and unbroken relationship with the God of Creation. Do I hear any hallelujahs? "God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world." Gal. 6:14 Folks, there is no other message to communicate than that! It is the message the world needs to hear. Embrace it, depend on it, live by it, boast in it and proclaim it! The cross and empty tomb are your hope. For everything!

O, remember the rainbow? It reveals a promise spoken by God. No more flooding the earth! And the most significant message that God ever communicated and demonstrated is found recorded in John 3:16. "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." What a message! One that was spoken from the Garden of Eden when our original parents were clothed in the skin of a slain animal. Grace, guys! Hear it! Communicate it! 

Copyright 2011

www.lifespeakstous.com  

bdotson37@gmail.com

Scripture taken from the New King James Version