"Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the command of God our Savior and of Christ Jesus our hope, to Timothy my true son in the faith: Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord."
I am Bob, a Christian and a writer, and I have this desire to tell people about God in ways that are not in your usual church language. I write to you, the various people who come to my blog site. I hope things are going well for you, and you have the peace that comes through understanding the gift of life given by Jesus Christ.
That's my personal version of Paul's greeting. In Paul's time, it was commonplace to introduce yourself fully whenever you wrote a letter, so that you give the reader the honor of knowing the writer more completely. It was customary to say who you were, to whom you were specifically writing, and you stated your business up front.
These days, things are a little more, strike that, a lot different. We communicate in different ways now. Back then, if you wanted to express an idea, you had limited methods. If you could write, that was one option. If you couldn't, you needed to get someone to write for you. Or you could try illustrating by artistic expression. Other than that, your only other option was to speak to the person directly, and over long distances, that was impractical.
Today we have all kinds of ways to send messages, as you well know. Internet, television, videos, texting, calling, video chatting... the options are endless. So now, we are inundated with all types of messages; some desired, some not. Daily we filter these messages to glean out the good stuff. And in turn, the messages have tried to be more creative over the years.
So now, we get emails, advertising, links, and videos that may not be as up front about the end-message as we once had. The message has to have some sort of hook, to grab your attention. Take television ads, for example. Often is the time I watch in my alpha-state stupor, as the big screen offers message after message. But occasionally, a particularly clever ad gets my attention. That's good, mission accomplished, the advertiser may think. But then, does the ad sometimes fail to deliver the message? I can think of countless ads that I think are clever, but in retrospect, I have no clue what product the ad was promoting. Fail!
We have seen earlier this lent that Paul has one very important message he wants us to remember: Be clear in what you communicate! If your words say one thing, but your behavior contradicts those words, you do the message more harm than good! Your actions could completely contradict the message of love, peace, repentance, and change brought about by Christ.
But part of that clarity comes only if you are clear in your own mission. I found when I wrote my version of Paul's greeting above that it really required some thought. What am I really trying to do here?
And so it should be. We need to "write our introductions" no matter what we are doing. Give yourself the advantage of having ready your own "elevator speech." How can you represent yourself best if called on to give a summary. Call it your mission statement, if you like. You will find it will help you in any endeavor you take on.
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