Attractive conversation

Fans of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice will recall how Lizzy remarks to Darcy that ‘We are each of us…unwilling to speak unless we expect to say something that will amaze the whole room and be handed down to posterity with all the éclat of a proverb.”  (If you’re not an Austen aficionado bear with me!) I have to admit that that statement fits me rather aptly at times. I am far too keen on ventilating my own opinions and airing my knowledge. (That’s probably why I’m writing a blog! )I suspect I am not alone, however, and if you struggle with this tendency too then read on!

 
The  Apostle Paul, reflecting on his approach when he reached the city of Corinth, wrote the following: ‘For I resolved to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.’ 1 Corinthians 2:2

Think for a moment about who Paul was. One greatest intellects of all time. One of God’s specially chosen messengers. A great evangelist who had seen vast numbers come to faith through his work across the Mediterranean. Yet what Paul is saying is that, in effect, he resolved to speak in Corinth as if he knew about one thing and one thing only – the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He would not be telling them about his Jewish background and or his rabbinical credentials. He would not try to impress them  with his great theological knowledge. He would not regale them with stories of thousands  turning to Christ. Only one topic of conversation would be on his lips – the person and work of Jesus Christ.  He knew this was the only thing the Corinthians needed to hear about, and as God’s messenger, it was the only message he had been commissioned to deliver. It was a subject that Paul was completely taken up with it. No wonder people thought he was obsessed or even a little mad.

 
I realised that this is the corrective to conversation that is too preoccupied with self. If you want to boast about something, Paul says, boast away  - but not about yourself but about Jesus Christ! Take a step back and look at what dominates your conversation on religious matters. Is full of your great understanding of theological matters, your encylopaedic Bible knowledge, your ability to critique every heresy known to man or to quote scripture in all three original languages (ok, I am exaggerating now!) – or is full of Jesus Christ? We can’t look two ways at once. If our attention is focussed on Jesus Christ and on glorifying him, it will not be fixed on ourselves and vice versa. Frustrated by finding yourself so self-absorbed? Look to Jesus Christ! Read about him, meditate on him, delight your soul in him and it will spill over into your conversation.

It is often true in the Christian life that if we simply try to stop doing something we get nowhere unless we put something else in its place. Hence I suspect that if we simply try to stop thinking and speaking so much about ourselves we will fail. Often such endeavours only serve to focus our attention all the more on ourselves. We need to fill our conversation more with Jesus Christ and the other things will be squeezed out. Do we want our conversation to be attractive, helpful and winsome? (Let’s face it, there’s nothing more unattractive than people who talk about themselves all the time) Fill it with Jesus Christ! Make Paul’s practice your own – to ‘know nothing’ in the communities we live in ‘except Jesus Christ and him crucified.’