We're in a world made of words.

For the Colson Center, I'm John Stone Street with The Point.

In 2017, Yale researcher Michael Krause discovered that the best medium for communication

was voice only.

Scientists have a couple theories why.

First, voice only is just less distracting.

We've learned this in the age of Zoom, that communication is often bombarded by images,

web problems, front facing cameras. All of these make it harder to focus on other people and therefore empathize with them.

And second, whereas visual clues can be misleading, it's harder for speakers to disguise how they're feeling in the tone of their voice.

This suggests that it's the tone we use, not our facial expressions, that are our biggest nonverbal giveaways.

All of this lines up with scripture that tells us to advance the gospel, quote,

with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience so that those who speak maliciously

against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.

The beauty of the gospel is that it trains our minds to think and our hearts to feel.

Christ's love lets us love others,

not just in what we say, but in how we say it. I'm John Stone Street.