Words Make Worlds
Dec 30, 2021 09:31AM ● By Dr. Eric Hankins
In the grand scheme of things, words matter. This
simple truth is easy to ignore, so it’s good to be reminded of it often. Words
matter because they have incredible power. In fact, a case can be made that
words are the most powerful things in the universe because of their peerless
capacity both to create and destroy.
If this is
true, then we must choose our words carefully. What should we say? That’s the great and ancient challenge of speech.
Which words bring life and which words bring death? We’ve all had the
experience of saying the wrong thing and making a situation worse with our
words when we were trying to make it better. Moreover, we’ve all said things
that we deeply felt needed to be said yet regretted them as soon as we spoke.
It’s easy to say the wrong thing and hard to say what’s right.
What is the
ultimate source of the mot juste, the
perfect word? Christians believe that the source of the perfect word is the
‘Perfect Word of the Bible’. John’s Gospel begins, “In the beginning was the
Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
In Greek,
the Word translates Logos. Logos signified not merely a word for
ancient peoples, it also referred to the fundamental organizing and unifying
principle of all reality. John goes on to say, “The Word was made flesh and
dwelt among us.” Jesus’ life revealed the content of that eternal Word: give
rather than take, love rather than hate, serve rather dominate, pardon rather
than condemn, die willingly rather than live selfishly.
When our
words are motivated by that Word, when they are in service to that Word, they
have the same creative and redemptive quality as the words that spoke creation
into existence and that brought beautiful order out of chaotic nothingness.
Words make worlds and words can save them, too. Choose them carefully.
Dr. Eric Hankins, Ph.D., is
pastor at First Baptist Church of Fairhope, 300 S. Section St., Fairhope, AL.
For more information, call 251-928-8685 or visit FirstFairhope.com.
