How many times have I tried to convince someone of something using logic and reason?
How many times did I feel like the conversation was one sided because I was doing all the talking and because my victim was silent, I assumed they were listening
People don’t care how much you know – I used to finish that line with the following ‘until they know how much you care’ but I don’t agree with that anymore
People don’t care how much you know or care about anything period, how can they? They can only experience life from their own lens
If someone is a racist and cared deeply about their ideology and could spout reasons why they think the way they do, would that make me care about their opinion- No
If someone promises to love you for better or worse but treats you like garbage, should you believe me? No
Just because a preacher preaches holiness from the pulpit does not mean they embody those values in their private lives
A movie star playing a hero or heroine is just playing a part written out for them. Do not expect them to be that in real life
I’ve slightly gone off course here and I don’t feel I’m making the point I wanted to make
Here’s the point
Let your actions do the talking/preaching/lecturing
Live in such a way that your entire life is a message, an example and guide for those interested enough to imitate some of what you stood for
Talking won’t get you there
Talking rarely got anybody anywhere, unless it’s deep communication where a problem needs to be addressed and rather than ignoring it, you deal with it head on and have the necessary conversation which is actually not talking but rather taking action
Talking is when you tell your colleague how much you dislike your manager knowing full well they can’t do anything about it
Talking is proclaiming your dreams to people that can only say ‘hey that’s great’ at best and at worst, discourage you. They can’t and won’t invest in your dreams so why are you investing so much time telling them and then get angry when they don’t react the way you hoped they would
Talking is complaining with people going through the same thing as you, knowing full well nobody in the group has the capacity to change anything
Talking is preaching to the choir
They already know
Go out into the world and reach those that do not
Don’t preach to the choir
Don’t preach at all
Unless your preaching is done through deeds and actions
A young preacher was sent out to the world by his local church and he was understandably nervous and worried
Would anybody listen to the gospel? Would anybody convert? Had the church wasted their money sending him rather than someone more experienced?
After months of living amongst people who lived very contrary to himself and clearly possessed opposing world views, the young man was discouraged
Why was nobody listening to him? Why couldn’t r help them change what he saw as destructive ways? Couldn’t they see it or at least hear the gospel he was preaching?
That God loved them, died for them and one day wanted them to reunite with him in heaven
Who doesn’t want to go to heaven?
These people!
They just didn’t care, even when he though he was getting through to them, he clearly wasn’t because nothing ever changed
He discounted the fact that he never interacted with them outside of preaching at them
He never took the time to learn their culture, understand their ways and why they believed what they already believed, no, that wasn’t why he was sent
It wasn’t his job to love them as they were, what would be the point in that when he already wanted to change them?
In a final act of desperation he wrote a letter to the senior pastor of his home church, it was very short and to the point “I don’t feel like I’m making a difference, everyday I feel like quitting, you’re my last hope, please tell me what to do”
A few weeks later he received an even short message “preach the gospel son – and if necessary, use words”
In other words, through your actions and deeds, people will see your message
It’s a tall order, especially for me an aspiring storyteller
But actions do speak volumes louder than words
SRZ
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