Communication: An Agent for Change

One of the key purposes for counseling is to help individuals, couples, and families change the way they communicate. Communication has always been an effective agent for change. As individuals relate their experiences to a counselor and as they are met with understanding and acceptance, hope for change seems possible.

It's not unusual to grow up feeling ineffective, or unworthy. These negative perceptions are powerful because a negative self-judgment believes that others have the same negative assessment of yourself. This judgment is then responsible for limited motivation to communicate because failure seems inevitable.

 A personal objective is to eliminate this negative concept of self. As persons come to see themselves as valued children of God, they receive power and confidence to interrelate with others in a way that pleases the Lord God.  It is possible to change a negative self-image by God’s transforming power that he bestows on those willing to receive it. 

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 Become new in the spirit of your minds, and put on the new self, which is created to be like God, righteous and holy in the truth. So don’t lie anymore, but tell one another the truth, because we are members of one another.  

~Ephesians 4:23-25 Beck – New Testament in the Language of Today

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Regaining Lost Credibility

For communications to be credible, trustworthiness must be the dominant attribute in each person’s character. In the initial days of most relationships, credibility in what is communicated is taken as reality since there isn't cause for doubt or disbelief. Therefore effective communication is inherently dependent upon integrity and honesty.

  

Credibility is definitely lost through dishonest communications, which ironically reveal the truth concerning a person’s character. Every child will at times fail to tell the truth, especially if he or she is in danger of facing punishment. However, some people distort the truth simply because it’s become a habit in the way they communicate.

Peter, one of Jesus’ disciples, lost credibility when he was asked, “Don’t you know Jesus?” He denied ever knowing Jesus. Credibility must be protected for it will be needed in every area of life. Ephesians 4:25 states, “You must put aside every falsehood and practice telling the truth.” Always be ready to defend your credibility with the truth.

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Then take on an entirely new way of life – a God-fashioned life, a life renewed from the inside and working itself into your conduct as God accurately reproduces his character in you.

~Ephesians 4:23-24 The Message

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