The Turn of a Phrase-Cubes and Triangles

"I am a poor bewildered triangle being wooed by a cube". This quote from James Branch Cabell's The Cords of Vanity was part of a conversation between a suitor and a flirtatious young woman. Needless to say,the relationship did not work itself out. The lack of connection in their communication is something that all of us have experienced during our lifetimes. This quote is an example of how our human attempts at communication and witnessing to the world can often experience a communication chasm. In my upbringing, it seemed that their were those Christians who had the "skills', whether oratorial or otherwise who drew people to Christ. They must have had the magic phrases that helped the unsaved person understand the "wooing of the cube". As I have grown older, and more understanding of the power of God I have begun to realize that all of our attempts to communicate as circles to squares or as triangles to cubes are faulted from the outset. Those we communicate to will be "bewildered" by what we are saying unless our words are touched by the Holy Spirit. As I was preparing my Sunday School lesson this week, I was reading the story of Jonah and his rebellion. The part of the story that really stuck out was how Jonah was bitter that God had saved the evil people of Ninevah. This was the same Jonah who had spent the last weeks preaching and teaching to the people of Ninevah, and had actually convinced the king to follow the One True God. Jonah's negative reaction to the redemption of the Ninevites tells me that even while he was preaching for the repentance of the people of Ninevah, his heart was not all the way in it. He still had reservations about God's redemption, even though he himself had just experienced in a drastic way. This is a huge relief for us as Christians. We do not have to say the perfect thing, or answer the questions of doubt in a perfect manner. We do not have to prove the existence of God, or explain how the world was Created, or even explain the virgin birth. We do not always even have to be sure of what we are doing. We just have to be willing to be used by the Holy Spirit. The Great interpreter can take our mumbled, disconnected ramblings, our cube-like communication and can clarify it until the bewildered triangles are faced with only the stark and vivid reality of God's Truth. It is freeing that our responsibilities as Christians are less dependent upon a turn of a phrase than they are on doing a good turn. Love takes on many forms and fashions and eliminates the need for cubes to communicate with "bewildered triangles", acts of love are understood by every tribe and tongue. The words we speak pale in comparison to the workings of our hands in their communicative ability with a lost world. Lord- help me to rely on you and to realize that the only "magic" words that I can say are actually deeds.