“…And yet, we hear them speaking in our own native languages!”

A number of the companies I am involved with are technology companies that build their applications and services to speak to larger platforms.  They do this through Application Program Interfaces, or what are known as APIs.  Because the platforms are constantly changing, the APIs must always be updated and it can feel like the application builders are always having to chase the changes just to keep speaking the same language or not fall out of date.  I sometimes feel this way too when the language of business and culture changes and I have no idea what someone is talking about, until I go find out.  And, the last part of that is what is important.  We must go find out. The languages will never stop changing and evolving but if we want our companies, our employees and ourselves to stay relevant, we must stay in tune with what changes we see happening and also try to anticipate what might be coming.  If we miss a “release” or a new “build” we could miss enough that it becomes really, really hard to catch back up.

The languages of how we communicate the Gospel are also changing quickly.  Roll back not that many years ago and if someone had said, “Just about everyone you know will be on a thing called Facebook”, well, after you looked at them funny you probably would have shrugged and just moved on because you’d had no idea what a face book was.  And today, Facebook is becoming a thing of the past to a new generation and they are off to something else.  Paul describes how the Holy Spirit created a way for everyone to understand each others’ native languages so that everyone could hear and understand the message of Jesus.  The same Holy Spirit can help us navigate new languages, new words and new ways of communicating so we can be attuned to how best to today, spread the Good News.

Reference:  Acts 2:8 (New Living Translation)