As one might expect, we had to cover from whence the languages came, in Genesis 10. After the flood, Noah and his children were commanded to go and fill the whole earth. While they might have started going out, they came to a point that they settled so that they could build a tower to show their own greatness, not the greatness of God. God, seeing that nothing would be impossible for them to do if they succeeded in this project confused their languages such that the people did spread over the earth into like languages.
While the teacher of this course may have meant to say something else, he said, "God caused it that the people could not communicate." That screamed loudly at me. Why do I think I am going to get to a point in other language learning that I will not ever have miscommunications? I have miscommunications in English, my heart language, so why wouldn't I in this one too. For that matter, I have miscommunications in my Louisiana dialect, even closer to my heart. While at first it might seem discouraging to think about in a new language, it is actually comforting when those mistakes happen. It is part of being human, which leads me to the next lesson.
Amidst all of this language learning, I have also had the pleasure to talk to others, from other companies and even other countries, about how their teams work. It turns out that team dynamics are one of the greatest, if not the greatest challenge, that coworkers, including myself, experience. Maybe it is because we expect to be able to communicate with those from our same country who have the same purpose for being overseas, so we are caught off guard by it. Maybe we expect that we will be "one in the bond of love" and sing "Kumbayah" every day. But the enemy is crafty and targets us where we do not expect it.
John 15
v. 12. This is my commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you.
v. 13. Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.
v. 14. You are my friends, IF you do what I command you.
.....
v. 17. This I command you, that you love one another.
Wow! Jesus commands us to love one another and says we are His friends IF we do what He commands. Ouch! When I am unloving toward my brothers and sisters in the faith, I am not being a friend to Jesus. (A whole other post will have to be dedicated to what it means to love, but I will sum up that it does not include advocating people do whatever they want which leads to self-destruction.)
Notice this though, Jesus repeats himself. Did He forget that he already said that? No, He has at least two purposes. One purpose is to really drive home the importance of this command. The second greatest command is "Love your neighbor as yourself." If we cannot love those of the family of faith, how are we going to love the world?Second purpose is to elude to the difficulty with which the commandment will be followed. It is not for fun that God repeatedly told Joshua to not be afraid but be courageous, rather Joshua needed to hear those words before he went into difficulty. It is no coincidence that the Bible says some version of "Do not be afraid" 365 times. We need to be reminded daily to not be afraid. We need to be told multiple times to love one another because it is not going to be easy and automatic, but it is how the world will know that we are His disciples.
Brethren, let us love as the Lord commands us! Let us be quick to listen and slow to speak. Let us be quick to forgive when miscommunications arise in whatever language. Let us love, laying our lives down for one another.
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