UCB Word For Today 3rd December 2023 Daily Devotional
Read UCB Word For Today 3rd December 2023 Sunday Daily Devotional Message by United Christian Broadcasters
TOPIC: Finding Common Ground (2)
‘I have voluntarily become a servant to…all.’
1 Corinthians 9:19 MSG
Whether you’re applying for a job, trying to win someone to Christ, counselling and advising, or correcting someone’s behaviour, to be effective you must look for common ground. Let’s look at some of the qualities that calls for. Availability. Paul writes: ‘I have voluntarily become a servant to…all…to reach a wide range of people.’
Establishing areas of common interest takes time. It also takes effort. It’s been reported that today a typical business executive has an on-the-job attention span of six minutes. That’s pathetic! In six minutes a person can hardly get his or her feet on the ground, much less find common ground. Identifying areas you can agree on calls for empathy and a willingness to listen to what the other person has to say.
In her book How to Talk So People Listen, Sonya Hamlin reports that most people find this challenging because of the ‘Me-First Factor’. She writes: ‘Listening requires giving up our favourite human pastime – involvement in ourselves and our own self-interest. It’s our primary, entirely human focus. And it’s where our motivation to do anything comes from. With this as a base, can you see what a problem is created when we’re asked to listen to someone else?’
So, what’s the solution? First of all it’s essential to acknowledge and answer two of the listener’s instinctive, unspoken questions, which are: ‘Why should I listen to you? What’s in it for me if I let you in?’ Anytime you’re willing to listen to people and figure out how what you’re offering meets their needs, you are halfway towards your goal of finding common ground.
BIBLE IN A YEAR: Luke 22:47-71, Psalms 125-129
UCB Word For Today 3rd December 2023. United Christian Broadcasters is a Christian media charity that exists to offer every person, in every place, every moment of the day, the opportunity to hear, watch or read the Word of God in a relevant and engaging way.
READ MORE TOPICS: OPEN HEAVENS, OUR DAILY BREAD, IN TOUCH, SEEDS OF DESTINY, STREAMS OF JOY, JOEL OSTEEN, MOUNTAIN TOP LIFE, DCLM DAILY MANNA, UCB WORD FOR TODAY
