Excuse Me, But We Need to Talk!

Most of America’s TV’s will be tuned to one of several bowl games this Sunday and Monday. Imagine the following scene taking place during one of the big games.

Eileen walks into the den, stands squarely in front of the TV at which Hank is staring, and says to him, “Excuse me, but we need to talk.” Trying to watch the next breathtaking play in the game, Hank asks a question that only proves how completely he has missed the point: “What do we need to talk ABOUT, sweetheart?”

Eileen has no trouble discerning where Hank’s mind really is. This is the man to whom she has pledged her heart, given her love and opened her soul, and there he sits, craning his neck to look around her at TV the screen, totally oblivious to their need. Fact is, it doesn’t matter what they need to talk ABOUT. They just need to talk, plain and simple; because communication is the raw material of relationships.

And so, as Hank stares past her at the big game, Eileen shrugs her shoulders, walks away to her room, and cries herself to sleep on the bed.

Hank? Heck, there’s less than a quarter-and-a-half left in the game. There’ll be plenty of time to talk later. Besides, what did Eileen want to talk ABOUT anyway?

Get a clue, Hank! At least you could have made a date to talk later. The subject matter is unimportant. What counts is the face-to-face, heart-to-heart sharing of one another’s lives. The whole purpose of communication is not simply distributing information but developing intimacy. Intimacy, not just information.

That’s also why we communicate with God. Christianity is a relationship with God, a relationship that, just like Hank and Eileen’s, either thrives on communication or suffers without it.

When people in relationships fail to communicate, they have problems. That applies whether it’s a business relationship or a personal one, a close relationship or a casual one. The health of the relationship is always determined by the condition of the communication.

We can’t really know people, or God, merely by being in their presence. It takes conversation, actually sharing thoughts and fears, goals and dreams.

Christians are meant to converse like that with God. We address Him in the language of prayer, and He addresses us in the language of Scripture.

This means that a daily quiet time in which you listen to God by reading His Word, and speak your innermost thoughts to Him in prayer, is more than just a religious exercise. It’s the very essence of maintaining your connection to Him. It’s what keeps you alive.

God is standing before you now, right in front of your TV, your stereo, your car, your house, and your job, and He’s saying, “Excuse me, but we need to talk.” What you talk about is not as important as the fact that you speak to Him and He speaks to you.

Do you have the time for God? Or is that game really more important than He is?