A Giving Communicator

I am constantly amazed at God’s timing. Consider last week, when I needed to write a devotional, had no clue what to write, and asked God to send a message. All I was thinking was that I wanted to acknowledge our gifted Pastor. It played into my day, as I completed the first 3 tasks of every day (after breakfast of course).

1. Bible: 4-6 pages/day, to get through the New King James in a year. From I Kings 8:23, a part of Solomon’s prayer, his sincere heart-felt conversation with the God who honored his request for wisdom, and who now had allowed him to build the Temple: “Lord God of Israel, there is no God in heaven above or earth below like you, who keep Your covenant and mercy with Your servants who walk before You with all their heart.”

2. John Maxwell: in a recent book, this famous and loved author/speaker talked about his experiences as a Pastor, and communication as an art. He had a good friend who explained why John was so effective as a Pastor. “I thought about why you’re so easy to listen to. The idea intrigued me when I thought about the fact that it’s true even when people know the stuff you are going to say. And it definitely goes beyond the entertainment value of just good storytelling. I think it all comes down to a communicator who is primarily a giver instead of a taker. The human spirit senses and feeds on a giving spirit. The spirit is actually renewed by a teacher with a giving spirit – this is proven by the fact that when people hear what you have said many times, they are still filled. Your teaching is essentially giving, and people can receive all day from a giver, while they tire quickly of a taker. Think about what Jesus taught – half the time the people didn’t know what he was talking about, but they listened attentively. He was giving – feeding them. Not taking. It was at a spirit (heart) level – he wasn’t just giving information. If communicators teach out of need, insecurity, ego, or even responsibility, they are not giving. The needy person wants praise; the insecure person wants approval and acceptance; the egotistical person wants to be lifted up, to be superior and just a little bit better than everyone else; even the person motivated by responsibility wants to be recognized a the faithful worker, to be seen as responsible – all of these only the audience can give. Many communicators teach in one of these taking modes all the time. Then there’s the giver. This person teaches out of love, grace, gratitude, compassion, passion, and the overflow. In each of these giving modes, the audience doesn’t have to give anything – only receive. The teaching then, becomes a gift. it fills and renews.”

3. Grace Harbor’s daily devotional: where today Pastor wrote about communication; he probably wrote this months ago, but it popped up today! No coincidence that he talked about communication, face-to-face, verbal, with the critical need for human interaction to be personal and not digital, which I use primarily to schedule face-to-face encounters. And, of course, my point was validated – God’s timing being perfect, and intentional.

This is our Pastor, and that’s why we can listen all day. Thank you, Pastor Fred – for your authentic, personalized, humble, anecdotal, spirit-filled, giving ways. You are greatly loved. And so is our God, who schedules these little times of inspiration for me and you.

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