Communication Helps Get the Job Done

Communication is so important.

 

You communicate constantly with your spouse as the two of you are raising your children. You communicate frequently with your children. You want everyone to be on the same page and both parents want to know the emotional and behavioral health of their children.

 

At work you communicate with your boss frequently. What are today’s priorities? Are we keeping our current customers happy? What needs to be done to attract new customers? What additional support is required?

 

Communication is the only way to know what your boss wants done and also the only way he knows what barriers are in your way.

 

Today’s reading, Mark 1:35-39, is about communication. Jesus is about to continue his preaching. Before he goes, however, he goes to a solitary place and prays to his Father.

 

Unhindered with interruptions, Jesus has a deep conversation with his Father, and apparently learns that he should preach elsewhere -- in the villages of Galilee.

 

Jesus was on a mission and he prayed about that mission with his Father. The Bible cites numerous instances of Jesus praying. Prayer, that is communication with his Father, was ingrained in his daily routine.

 

Like Jesus, we are sent on a mission. Our mission and Jesus’ mission are one and the same. It is multi-faceted and includes loving our neighbor, worshiping God and making disciples.

 

To complete our mission, we need to be in constant communication with our boss, that is, God. Through prayer, He will help us identify opportunities and provide hints for being effective. He will also provide comfort when things are not going so well.

 

We are told to pray constantly, that is, to keep God in our daily decision making process. This helps incorporate God’s Will in our daily routine. As today’s lesson suggests, however, there are times when we need to be more contemplative in our prayer and we need to be unhindered with interruptions.

 

Just like we communicate to our boss and our family members, we need to communicate with our heavenly Father and heavenly Boss. It needs to be ingrained in our daily routine.

 

Communication helps get the job done!

 

Face to Face

How do you communicate with others?

When I went away to college in 1968 my Dad told me that he expected me to write a letter every week. I must have complied because he was paying the bills.

Communication is vastly different today than it was 45 years ago. It started with the US mail and evolved into the Internet. Today you can fax, twitter, text, call on your smart phone while you check the Internet, or email from your phone, iPod or computer.

A friend of mine has a ministry called Face to Face. If you get a chance check it out on the web. It is a sports ministry that started with him interviewing Christian athletes. He would sit down with them, face to face.

So much of our communication today is dependent on technology. It is not personal. It is not face to face. And as much as we humans desire and need deep personal relationships, we seem to prefer the technology.

In the movie "Fiddler on the Roof", Tevye is a milkman that spends his days delivering milk from house to house as he walks along with his old lame horse. Spending most of his time alone, he talks with God constantly, face to face. He doesn’t text or tweet or talk on his cell phone or listen to his iPad.

That’s what Psalm 19 is about, making time for God.
He speaks to us through His world. "The heavens declare the glory of God".He speaks to us through His word. "The law of the Lord is perfect, refreshing the soul".
For me, the meaning behind this Psalm is that God is a personal God. He desires to have an intimate relationship with us. He wants us to spend time with Him. He wants us to talk to Him. He wants us to listen to Him through His world and through His Word.

Let’s be sure to get face to face to "our Rock and our Redeemer".


http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=psalm%2019&version=NIV;MSG
http://www.biblegateway.com/audio/mclean/niv/Ps.19