As with all my posts I ask you to examine your heart and see if this applies to you.
Implied vs Spoken, the thought being that in a conversation you can say something out right (Hey David you are an awesome guy) or you can imply something (My best friend is pretty cool **wink**).
So the question is: In public (more than 2 people) conversation should you ever imply? Here are my thoughts. Implying something usually ends up excluding people because more than not someone in the conversation doesn't get what was implied. Also that is usually why you imply something because you only want certain people to know what you are talking about.
Why would we as followers of Christ do this? Why would we intentionally exclude people? What part of following Christ is that? Also if not everyone needs to know something why talk about it or hint at it?
Example: "John is going to miss practice again because he is 'busy' if you know what I mean".
In this fake situation I am implying to everyone that John is ditching us again for his girlfriend. So, 1: I am talking about John behind his back, 2: I am airing frustration to everyone in the conversation rather than confronting John with something that I see as an issue and 3: if there is someone who doesn't know what I mean I have just alienated them. None of these things are Christ like and they are all self serving.
One of the other ways implied is not good is that it is an excuse not to be vulnerable. By saying in a group setting "My best friend is pretty cool" I am only excluding and speaking in a round about way so as not to show people that I really care a lot about someone. But if instead I said "David is really awesome guy and I care about him." Not only is it very clear but suddenly the focus is shifted from me to David so it becomes less about me.
Is there a situation where it is needed? Sure I think there are but they are the exception to the rule rather than the norm in my opinion.
2 Corinthians 10:5b
"...we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ"
The practical application of this is to capture your thoughts and usually to speak with clarity that includes people and helps them understand rather than exclude people.
I feel really strongly about this but I would like to know what others think about it? What are your thoughts?
