Love Conquers All

From the very beginning people rushed to see the baby Jesus and then the child Jesus and, after 30 years, the adult Jesus. People were attracted to jesus because He had something very special. He showed love wherever He went.

Hard nosed, blue collar shepherds who worked the third shift wanted to go see and perhaps hold the babe. Later, three astrologers from Persia came to see Him with gifts of gold, frankincense and murr. This is but an inkling of the great crowds that soon would seek Him out.

Unlike Scrooge, people longed to be near Jesus and threw themselves at His feet, touched the hem of His garment and followed Him around Palestine to watch Him and fellowship with Him.

Throughout scripture, we are taught that our outer body communicates an inner reality of the heart. Jesus spoke of the eye as a metaphor for the things we love and place our attention upon.

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness! Matt 6:21-23 (NIV)

Do you remember the description of Scrooge whose visage was so evil that even the dogs of blind men turned away as if to say, "No eye at all is better than an evil eye."

Jesus looked upon people with compassion, with mercy, with warm love.

Albert Mehrabian found that the tone of our voice and the physical position of our bodies are much more powerful in sending a message than the particular words we use. According to him, the tone of our voice is a factor five times more powerful than our best chosen language for it influences some 38% of the message.

Try this experiment. The next time you see a dog, make a very mean comment in a warm, loving tone of voice. You may try something like this. "You ugly old dog I am going to beat you with a stick." There is no doubt that the dog will respond by wagging her tail and will come over for a pat on the head. Despite the Content of the words, he senses your love and kindness. You may also try the opposite tack and say loving things in a harsh, angry tone of voice. Then the dog will scurry away in fear for he instinctively sense your anger.

Interestingly, Dr. Mehrabian discovered that our body language speaks even more powerfully than our tone of voice. The percentage factor he assigned to body language was 7 times more than the words or 55% of the total message.

Scrooges voice and demeanor said, "Stay away from me. I do not like you or want you to be around me. Come to me and I will give you the boot!"

Jesus, however, communicated a totally different message. He said, "Come to me all who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest."

Do you want people to like you and appreciate you? Do you wish you could influence others? Ask God to give you the fruit of the Holy Spirit and you will have exactly that which made Jesus attractive and opposite of what made Scrooge repulsive.