The single greatest element of communication is this …

I love equipping people with highly effective communication skills!

That’s because communication is the means in which two or more human beings interact with each other. The more developed and effective our communication skills are, the more capable we are of collaborating positively with those we communicate with.

But regardless of how great your skills for communicating might be, the single greatest element of communication still remains the content of what you communicate. There are no amount of skills that can offset content that is unloving, uncaring, mean-spirited, selfish, hurtful, harmful, or destructive.

Beyond being able to communicate is the essential issue of what you have to say.

The apostle Paul provided us with some guidance on the issue of the content of our communication. We’ll look at that in a moment. But the first point he makes is that, for a Christian, all of what we do in relationship with others should be motivated by love for them.

A second point Paul makes is that all of what a Christian believes and does should be based on truth.

Paul tied those two things together in a way that speaks to the content of our communication when he wrote:

“Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church,” Ephesians 4:15.

If you find you’re unwilling, or feel “unable” to speak with love to someone, you’re likely entertaining a sinful attitude toward them, from which you need to confess and repent. The same is true if you’re unwilling to speak the truth.

The key is not to attempt to find a way to communicate what is unloving and untruthful, but rather, to make the necessary personal changes so that what you have to communicate can be truth that is spoken in love.

Speaking truth in love doesn’t always mean what you have to communicate will be “warm, fuzzy” happy thoughts; it can mean having to address serious and difficult issues. That doesn’t mean the content has to be unloving, and it should never be untrue.

Have you fallen into the habit of trying to use communication skills or styles to cover for content that is lacking in love or truth? What can you do to make sure the content of your communication is motivated by love and based on truth?

Scotty