What You Say Before You Ever Open Your Mouth

Overcoming the Homefront Battles — Part 1 of 2

In the last two posts, we looked at verbal communication — the power of the tongue, the practice of the tongue, and the protections available for the tongue. But there’s another layer of communication that shapes every conversation before a single word gets spoken: non-verbal communication.

Simply put, non-verbal communication is what we convey before we ever speak. It’s posture, tone, facial expression, the way we treat someone the moment we walk into a room. And here’s the question worth sitting with: where does that actually start?

For veterans especially, this hits close to home. We were trained to read a room, size up a situation, and communicate volumes without saying anything at all — a look, a nod, body positioning. That same skill set, redirected toward genuine love instead of threat assessment, becomes a powerful tool for ministry and relationship.

It Starts in the Heart

Non-verbal communication doesn’t begin with body language techniques. It begins in our own hearts — specifically, in whether we’re genuinely willing to love the people in front of us.

“As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love … This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.” — John 15:9, 12

“Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God … He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.” — 1 John 4:7-8

Jesus is our greatest example of what this looks like in practice. He never separated what He communicated non-verbally from what He said out loud — His posture toward people matched His words toward people, every time.

What Does Loving One Another Actually Look Like?

It’s worth pausing on this, because love gets misunderstood constantly. It is not loving to ignore sinful mindsets. It is not loving to ignore sinful choices. But it is loving to desire and encourage godliness in the people around us — even when that requires an honest conversation nobody wants to have.

Think about how Jesus approached people. He never treated sinners as projects or problems to manage from a distance. He engaged them, ate with them, spoke truth to them, and loved them enough to call them toward something better. That posture — before He ever said a word — set the tone for everything He said afterward.

So what are the practical instructions God gives us for expressing love non-verbally? Paul answers that question directly in 1 Corinthians 13 — and that’s exactly where we’re headed in Part 2. Read Part 2 here.

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