Why the Natural Man Has Nothing to Say!

When Talk Leaves You Empty

Have you ever come away from a long conversation feeling strangely empty? You talked for an hour and said nothing that mattered. The weather, the football, the price of things, who did what to whom — round and round it went, and your soul was hungrier at the end than at the start. If you have known that feeling, you have brushed up against a plain spiritual truth: the natural man, left to himself, has very little to say. Not because he is stupid, but because he is cut off from the only conversation that ever truly satisfies.

The Natural Man Cannot Grasp Spiritual Things

Paul tells us why. But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned [1 Corinthians 2:14 KJV]. This is not an insult; it is a diagnosis. A man without the Spirit is like a radio that cannot pick up the station. The signal is there, but he has no receiver for it. So the deep things — God, eternity, the soul, the purpose of it all — simply do not register. He is left with the surface, and the surface is thin.

Out of the Heart the Mouth Speaks

Our words always give us away. Jesus said, out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh [Matthew 12:34 KJV]. Whatever fills the heart eventually spills out of the mouth. If a heart is full of God, the conversation turns naturally to the things of God. If a heart is empty of Him, there is nothing to draw from but self, circumstances and small talk. That is why so much talk drifts endlessly around the same three subjects — me, my money and my world. There is simply nothing deeper in the well to bring up.

Three Wells That Soon Run Dry

Look closely and you will see the natural man returning again and again to the same three streams. Self — my day, my aches, my opinions, my achievements. Money — what things cost, what I earn, what I want to buy. The world — the news, the gossip, the endless churn of headlines. John names all three: the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life [1 John 2:16 KJV]. Of some, Paul says plainly, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things [Philippians 3:19 KJV]. These wells are not evil in themselves, but they are shallow. Drink from them all day and you are still thirsty.

Why It Feels So Empty

There is a reason all this leaves us flat. God hath set the world in their heart [Ecclesiastes 3:11 KJV] — He built us for eternity, so nothing less than eternity will fill us. Solomon tried the lot: pleasure, work, wealth, wisdom, and came back with one weary verdict — vanity of vanities; all is vanity [Ecclesiastes 1:2 KJV]. That hollow feeling after empty conversation is not rudeness on our part; it is the soul reminding us it was made for more. Chit-chat cannot feed a spirit built for God.

A Different Kind of Conversation

The believer has been given something the natural man has not — a new heart, a new nature, and the Spirit of God within. But we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God [1 Corinthians 2:12 KJV]. That changes what we have to talk about. If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above... Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth [Colossians 3:1-2 KJV]. When our affections are set higher, our conversations rise with them. We have something to say because we have Someone to speak of.

Do Not Despise the Empty Talker — Reach Him

Here is where we must be careful. It would be easy to grow proud, to find unbelievers boring and look down on them. That is not the mind of Christ. Jesus looked on the crowds with compassion, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd [Matthew 9:36 KJV]. The empty talker is not our enemy; he is a hungry man who does not yet know what he is starving for. Our job is not to be bored by him but to bring him bread. Let your speech be alway with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man [Colossians 4:6 KJV]. Salt makes people thirsty. A word of grace, dropped gently into the small talk, can awaken a longing the person did not know was there.

From Chit-Chat to Christ

So the next time the conversation is circling the drain of self, money and the world, do not sigh and switch off. See it for what it is — a soul running on empty — and be the one with something real to offer. You carry living water. You know the answer to the ache underneath all the small talk. Turn the conversation, kindly and without preaching at people, toward the One who satisfies. That is our calling: That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work [Colossians 1:10 KJV]. The world is full of empty conversations. Let us be believers with something worth saying...

Key Takeaways:

• The natural man cannot grasp spiritual things without the Spirit — [1 Corinthians 2:14 KJV]
• Our talk reveals what fills the heart — [Matthew 12:34 KJV]
• Self, money and the world are shallow wells — [1 John 2:16 KJV]
• We feel empty because we were made for eternity — [Ecclesiastes 3:11 KJV]
• The believer has a new nature and higher affections — [Colossians 3:1-2 KJV]
• Do not despise the empty talker — have compassion — [Matthew 9:36 KJV]
• Season your speech with grace and salt to stir thirst — [Colossians 4:6 KJV]