Thank God for Words!
Among the many reasons for which people should be grateful to God, is His gift of words to human kind. Through these wonderful tools persons can communicate. They are the necessary vehicles for human interaction and achievement. For those unable to speak, sign language has been provided; for people without sight, the Braille method enables them to learn and advance in life! There is power in words!
How exciting it is for parents to recognize the very first word their infant child started to pronounce! How thrilling it becomes for parents, guardians and teachers to further guide young children in the proper use of words, at the right times, and for specific reasons. Anyone easily remembers those “magic” words such as “please” and “thank you” which youngsters are taught for successful social contacts, as they progressively mature.
Similar to the charm of first words from little children is also the significance of the last word or words spoken by someone just before dying. Family members are often affected by what was uttered; friends and other relatives are equally eager to know what was said.
It is a known fact that words evolve and even change in meaning. One is also aware that words can edify just as they are capable of destroying. Jesus’ three-year ministry on earth positively affected people through the power of His speech, as the Word of God Incarnate. Some of his contemporaries marvelled: “No man spoke like this Man!” (John 7:46)
Impacting words are coated with truth, power, and love. Jesus’ words manifested those qualities, and our talk can also do the same. Words convey meaning, provide challenges, inspire action! Great speeches of history have been preserved to be passed on from generation to generation. Several works of literature have become immortal, as their authors were, in terms of their continuing significance.
Worthy of notice are British journalist and author, Malcolm Muggeridge’s remarks: “Words can be polluted even more dramatically and drastically than rivers and land and sea. There has been a terrible destruction of words in our time.”
The greatest pollution of words, however, occurs when they misrepresent a fact, or are used in “double-talk” or in any evil, negative fashion. Sadly this takes place more frequently than one might recognize, when false promises are made, when words are used as an attacking weapon, or in other improper ways.
Yet, of one thing we may remain ever certain: “The Word of the Lord stands forever! (Isaiah 40:8). “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will by no means pass away” (Matthew 24:35). Our Christian hope is grounded on the Word of God Incarnate, as well as in God’s written Word, the Bible. His promises are real; His commandments are valid. They provide an infallible guide for this life and the next, for what God has said has eternal significance; God’s Truth is forever contemporary and fully relevant!
