©2006, Crossway Books, 186 pages in hardback.

One job of parents as teachers is to instruct their children how to talk.  This instruction can easily result in children using the same accent as their parents or in being bilingual if the parents speak two languages.

When we become Christians, we also have to learn to talk, but in a different sense.  Perhaps, as covenant children, we are babies in Christ at the same time as we are physically laboring. We may learn to talk, and talk Christianly simultaneously.

Learning to talk Christianly involves many facets.  What type of vocabulary do we use and how do we use it? How do we talk to someone with whom we are  upset? Less addressed, I believe, is how do we make reference to spiritual truth in our ordinary conversation?

The hectic pace of daily life and the weakness of our flesh can easily allow us to segment the integration of scriptural truth into conversation to time at church or time spent in family devotions. I do not want to downplay either of these; however we miss out on great encouragement to ourselves and fellow believers by not incorporating scriptural references more often into our conversation.  We often do this when another is facing a crisis or when we are discussing a social issue such as abortion or homosexuality.

How often do reflections on the promises of God or the work of Christ come up in normal conversation?  In his excellent volume, The Great Gain of Godliness, the puritan Thomas Manton mentions four aspects of scriptural teaching that need to be on our lips: (1) the promises of scripture, (2) the preciousness of Christ, (3) the evil of sin, (4) the beauty of holiness, and (5) the health of one’s soul.

A practice of such conversation within our overall verbal communication with others is beneficial in a number of ways.

A decision to include the above in conversation with fellow Christians would probably promote our reading scripture with an eye to noticing texts that would fit into one of these categories.  This would aid our meditation on various passages.

Such conversation could replace needless complaining and useless chatter that may flow from our mouths otherwise.  It can also encourage others in their Christian walk and in their own conversation with friends.  As we speak of the beauty of holiness and the evil of sin, we can encourage one another to think in areas that are often neglected.  Why is holiness beautiful?  How evil is sin?  We may have to think about these for a while ourselves to come up with good answers.

In an age when the privacy of one’s religion is stressed, this conversational aim reminds us that Christianity is not to remain private.  Within the covenant community we are to have a real concern for one another. One may think that conversation on the health of one’s soul is too invasive.  To think this fails to realize the covenantal nature of Christianity and the accountability we should have with one another.  It is also a reminder of how much we have adopted the cultural pressure to privatize Christianity.

We can begin to interject these subjects into our family conversations with spouses and children.  This provides a great opportunity to share what we have been reading in the Bible.  Also it can give us insight into how profitably others have been reading scripture.  When was the last time you shared with a relative something you recently learned from the Bible?  Such conversation gives normalcy to this type of verbal exchange.  It also gives us encouragement to be in the word.

Similarly we can speak regarding how our God has worked in our lives.  How many family members know how you were saved?  How many know special works of providence in your life such as how you met your spouse? These works of God should not be taken for granted. They can be of great encouragement to our children and grandchildren.

Our conversation should evidence our Christian growth.  We need to consciously aim to make sure a part of our conversation includes a rejoicing in Christ and the benefits that flow from our belonging to Him.

Review ©2007 Byron Snapp, Hampton, Virginia