“And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of the righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.” –Philippians 1:9-11

            Think back to your time in high school. Let’s do a little reminiscing and think about our friends, teachers, and favorite subjects throughout your time in high school or maybe even college. Sometimes I wish that I could go back to those days only because I was involved in a lot of activities that I don’t necessarily have time for any more like playing in jazz band. For me, and I’m sure for many of you, the teachers that you had influenced how much you enjoyed their class and the subject they taught or they made the subjects you disliked at least bearable.

            English was one of those classes. It has never been a subject that I have enjoyed very much and was always the class that I never wanted to go to. It was and still is all about language. Participles and verbs that make sentences understandable even when I’m not entirely sure what a participle is. Even while I am looking at the green squiggly line under my sentences and words as I type I’m not sure what I did wrong. But language is incredibly important. It is how we are able to tell stories, order food, check out our groceries, and express our feelings. But it also does something that we might not even notice. It shows what we are focusing on.

            I learned the hard way that when you are working on a team to accomplish a goal that the language you use can be a major influence on the impact your team has. When we use language that is in line with I, Me, and My  or you and yours, things tend to get heated and productivity slows dramatically, but if you use language like We and Us there is a sense of unity and connection which increases the production and effectiveness of the team. This is especially true when we are trying to share the message of Christ. The language that has an inward focus tends to push people away. Have you ever heard someone who has been sharing the message of Christ and said “If you don’t believe you will go to hell?” Not a very encouraging message is it? It is pointing the finger at them saying change your ways because you aren’t as good as me and will face eternal punishment if you don’t.

            How would the message of the church change if we changed our language to use more caring terms? How much more effective would our relationships and language be if we came alongside others to invest and focus on what is happening in their lives and walking through that with them? People would start to wonder why you do what you do and what causes you to be so loving and caring, which would lead to doors opening and discussions being had about the work and ministry of Christ. Language has a major impact on our lives. So why not use it to share the message of Christ and change someone else’s life?

Question of the day: How can our language toward others change this week to be more focused on others instead of ourselves?

“Who you are is not defined by worldly “stuff” but by your heart for God.” –Tony Dungy