Appendix 7. Speak Wisely

Whoever you are talking with, if you think only of the one person in front of you listening to you right now, that conversation has failed. You are talking with the person in front of you, but the way to succeed in conversation is to keep in mind that ten people, a hundred people, could hear the words that leave your mouth, and to speak so that even if they do hear, they will not stumble. So a conversation that tries only to persuade one person, and cannot look wide or far, ends up causing discord. People make this mistake often now. Only when we talk wisely with our children, or among believers, so that no one would be hurt even if ten people heard, will God lift that person up.

The one who had such wonderful conversations was Jesus. Jesus cut off firmly whatever had no spiritual value, and even if the other person did not accept the word right away, as time passed the word took up more and more room in their heart, so he brought them to submit to the word of truth. You can see this in the way everyone, two thousand years later, still agrees with and accepts the conversations Jesus had with people. Jesus passed on the will of God rather than speaking his own thoughts. That is the way to succeed in conversation.

It is the same for you: when you pass on the Lord’s will rather than trying to persuade with your own thoughts and words, the word itself has authority, so those who hear it repent of their own accord. Conversation is not about passing on my thoughts but about building up the other person. If you have had a conversation with someone, it was a successful conversation only if not just that person but the hundred people who heard it were built up.