This could be a long post….because words matter…..and that means there are a million examples and applications. Suffice just a few words on the matter:) This morning we had family devotions around Psalm 82. After reading the Psalm, Betsy says, ‘what does that passage even mean?!’, and so off we go in working at it together. Jesus quotes from this Psalm in John 10 and I was recently impressed with the power of our words. It is no accident that God created all things with His word(s) and that we can create a whole world and universe with our thoughts/words. Further, we create the future with our words (last night I said that everyone could have as many cookies as they wanted, just take one at a time. What happened next? the future was created by my words!!) and we recognize that the ideas expressed through words in the past have literally created the present that we all are living in.
I think of Jesus’ miracle of the feeding of the 5,000 (Matt 14) and how I love the Hymn, Break Thou the Bread of Life, which correlates feeding of physical food with Words of God (there are so many Psalms that speak of this correlation that it is hard to put them all here!!)
We know there is great power in our thoughts / visualization / speaking. This is directly because we are created in the image of God, and are gods in that sense. We can and do create the future. Let’s not get proud about this….none of us created ourselves, so we can’t take any credit whatsoever for having this power. There are courses and books, and most inspirational speakers in business today teach you how to harness the power of the subconscious, visualize where you want to be, etc. Think and Grow Rich is one common resource. There IS power there because we have been given this creative power by our Creator, the LORD. Using that gift is not the problem, in my opinion. Rather, it is the goal that we set up toward which we use the power that is often the problem. Is growing rich the highest aim? I hope not. We will subordinate everything to our highest goal. So if growing rich is our highest goal, certainly we will achieve it. That’s not mine, and I hope, isn’t yours. Love the Lord with all your heart, soul, strength, and mind, and your neighbor as yourself.
Words matter every day. When I say ‘science’, what do you think of? That matters. When someone says, ‘science says …..’ does your mind scream, “HOLD ON, I need a definition first!” It should. Because science is an inanimate study of the created universe and cannot say anything. God has given only intelligent beings the ability to SAY anything. As far as I can tell, that means only God, angelic beings (angels and demons), and humans can say words. We know there are other languages (stars, animals, creation) that are described but that’s not really the point here.
When we are in a contentious discussion, words matter, and the definitions of those words matter. We MUST take the time to ensure that the words in the discussion are commonly understood. A couple favorite examples of how words and language can create misunderstandings that create a future that wasn’t desired: Take this sentence and emphasize only the first word in it when reading the sentence. Then go back and emphasize the second word. Then the third only. Then each one in turn after that.
“I didn’t say she stole the money.”
A man and his wife were many miles apart and the wife wanted to buy an expensive dress. She telegraphed her request to him, and he responded, “No, price too high.” The problem is, the telegraph operator forgot the comma.
How would you define ‘secular?’ A common source says, denoting attitudes, activities, or other things that have no religious or spiritual basis. If God created the universe and everything therein, how can there be anything that has no religious or spiritual basis?!? God is Spirit. DON’T swallow the idea that secular exists. IT. DOESN’T. Words matter, be careful!
By the way, painting with broad strokes is a sure way to get into trouble. Lots of discussion about the separation of church and state, blah blah blah. You won’t get anywhere in a discussion about anything unless you get down to the details. Is public school good or bad? Is private or home school good or bad? You would be a fool to take a position on this broad of a question.
Another topic, I think it is unhelpful to speak the word ‘races’ when discussing characteristics in humans. We are all of one race, according to the Bible–the human race. Male/man and female/woman, and maybe a few others are the extent to which God groups humans. Any description of a group after that is going to run into some snags–we each fit into an infinite number of groups depending on the description, so why pick the color shade of skin to group people? Why not pick height down to the quarter-inch or favorite food or fingerprint. Ahh, I gotcha on that last one–you say–well if we picked fingerprint as the grouping mechanism, we’d have 8 billion groups. Yep, and it would be the only non-arbitrary type of grouping other than God’s groups: human race, man/woman, saved/lost…I’m sure there are some other ones but this suffices to illustrate my point.
To illustrate this a little further….at a private school retreat, one member suggested we start the school day with the pledge of allegiance. I objected first, for my reasons. Another objected next, for his reasons. The proponent replied that we ought to honor our forefathers for their sacrifices….can you guess what happened next? You got it…..WHOSE FOREFATHERS? We all have different forefathers. How, then, does saying the pledge of allegiance honor everyone’s forefathers? It doesn’t, obviously. So, then it sounds like we are honoring only some peoples’ forefathers. And, how do we decide whose forefathers to honor? Through some arbitrary grouping of individuals around some trait or characteristic. Refer to the previous paragraph to revisit the problem with arbitrary groupings!
Words have real creative power as given by God. Words can destroy, and I don’t even need to give any examples of that–examples are all around us. Choose your words, clearly express your ideas. It matters.