Words

[HKHaugan]

Words

       In My Fair Lady Eliza Doolittle is wooed by Freddy who sings how he loves her and is just happy “To be on the Street Where You Live.”  But Eliza sings in return, “Words, words, words, words.  If you’re in love, ‘Show Me.’”  It’s one thing to be in a place where love is sung and thought about but quite another to show that love wherever you are.  Words are one thing and action is another.  But there is truth when it comes to the importance of words.

       Words have a kick.  They penetrate.  That is not meant to be profound.  It is meant to convey something real.  Every word carries with it a piece of reality that describes who we are and what we believe.  Words give us a picture of who we are spiritually.  If we really take time and think about the words we use and why perhaps we’ll have more of an insight as to what makes us who we are.  You know how when you spoke in a moment of emotional frustration and someone draws you up short, “Just listen to yourself.  Do you realize what you just said?” Or, in contrast, a moment of thoughtful sharing, “You just told me what I needed to hear.”  Words are symbols in that they say more than how a dictionary defines them.  Now suppose you consider their source not as some authority defines them but as a description of the person using them.  Now we are talking about the spiritual nature of the words spoken.  Words characterize us.  They reveal our spirituality. 

      If our spirituality is reflected through our words, then what is the source of the spirituality we have?  This is a question not only for people who have a conscious belief system.  It is also for people who don’t think they have a belief system, because they do.  So, you hear someone with a string of words “only a sailor would use,” what does that say about the belief of that person?  One well-known NFL coach was notoriously famous for that.  When questioned, he believed it was ‘motivating.’  The same coach appears on TV with carefully adaptive language. 

       Name calling and emotionally charged language reflect another belief system.  It’s called ego.    If people find themselves using words and phrases that are identity conscious it is the religion of the ego that is in charge.  That’s probably the most obvious.

       As believers in Jesus Christ, it is our belief in Him that shapes the way we use words and try to frame them in a way that reflects His presence in our lives.   There is the written language of the Spirit we know as Scripture.  That’s basic to us.  The way we personally use it is our dialect.  The Bible is the means to understand how each of us can communicate who and what we are to a multilingual world. That world is an atmosphere of egos using different words from ego-oriented belief systems vying for individual support.  They are religions.  Being a disciple of Jesus is a relationship.  That’s what our words reflect,  He sets the mood for how we use our words.

       There is one major means to help any individual determine what the major influence is that governs their word usage.  That is whether or not they see themselves as religious or relational in terms of their belief in God as revealed in Jesus Christ.  Is there a point in their lives where they made a personal decision to accept Jesus as their Savior and Lord?  Were the words they used to express that experience spiritual and relational, person to Person?  Did the words used in Scripture help them as they began to walk with God?  Did they have people around them who believed that way and shared their words of faith with them?  Were they given opportunities to read the Bible together, share their thoughts about it and hear it taught?  Was it all centered in the Lord Jesus?  Did they sense the spiritual truth of God in Jesus when they gathered with others like them?  Were they encouraged to see all people as images of God whether they believed in Him or not?  Then of course to share their experiences with others as they were led?

       “The answers my friends are blowing in the wind,” blowing in the wind of the Holy Spirit.