What's in a Word?

Nineteen years old and quite a skeptic. That described me as I left college and traveled to Europe to do research in an attempt to disprove Christianity—specifically to show that the Bible was historically unreliable and that Jesus was by no means the Son of God.

Standing in the Glasgow University library in Scotland, I stared at an ancient New Testament manuscript. It was a fragment from John 16, and the ink and papery substance on which it was written were more than sixteen hundred years old. This rare, third-century, handwritten portion of the Gospel of John was housed under a protective glass case in the university library. It was a priceless artifact that quoted the words of Jesus.

As I stood there, a strange and unexpected feeling washed over me. Though I could not read or understand a single line of the Greek in which that manuscript was written, those words seemed to reach out to me in an almost mystical way. Even though I was an unbeliever at the time, I sensed an uncanny power about those words.

Today's Noisy Words

Words. The right ones used in the right way can be powerful. But in today's world, I'm afraid a lot of people use a lot of words to produce merely a lot of noise.

Everywhere you look, you see people using a barrage of words in bite-size chunks in hopes of communicating. Take texting, for example. Our generation is "connected" now more than ever by smartphones. According to a recent Experian Marketing Services digital marketer report, the average number of texts per month by eighteen- to twenty-four-year-olds is 3,853. That is more than 128 texts a day.

People are using words at an unprecedented rate through Facebook as well. Within the first quarter of 2014, Facebook reported more than 1.15 billion active users per month. The market research company eMarketer estimates that 40 percent of all US children under the age of twelve are online monthly. Nearly half will be online by 2015.

It's clear in today's world of texts, Twitter, Facebook, and e-mails that we are transmitting words at record levels. But are all these words truly connecting us, or are many of them simply a lot of noise? The Creator of words had a purpose in mind when he gave us the ability to write words and speak them to others. Used properly, words can effectively connect us relationally. Words are important, and the God-breathed words of Scripture are the most important of all. But we must listen to how words are being used in order to understand their true meaning.

Listening for the Meaning of Words

We humans have the unique ability to make varied sounds and arrange them in specific combinations that we call words. And each of these words is designed to mean something in particular. The languages we speak are composed of words, which are the building blocks of thoughts, ideas, and expressed feelings. When we assemble words in sentences to represent our thoughts, ideas, and feelings, they become the basic elements of our human communication.

Using words enables us to accomplish much of what we do in life. Through words we can communicate how to get from one place to another, complete tasks, form friendships, express love to a spouse, raise a family, and express our views on countless subjects. Words can transmit creative thoughts and ingenious ideas, but their most meaningful purpose is when we use them to connect to one another relationally. Yet when we're not attentive to words, or we fail to listen carefully to what someone says, words can become mere sounds or marks on a page and lose their power to connect us.

I remember the tragic beginning of my honeymoon. Dottie and I had known each other for only six short months before we married. I figured my lovely wife and I had a lifetime to really get to know each other, so I was in no particular hurry to discover all there was to know about her. But that wasn't the case for my new bride. I soon discovered that she was anxious to share her entire life story with me on our honeymoon.

We were driving a long distance through Mexico to Acapulco when Dottie began to tell me about herself, her family, her childhood, her likes and dislikes, her views on politics, marriage, and child rearing. You name it, and Dottie was prepared to talk about it.

I remember that, at some point, my receptive facilities went into overload and all the words she was saying began to sound like mere noise. Meanwhile, I was also trying to interpret the confusing road signs and stopping occasionally to fumble with a stack of maps. After a while, Dottie's talking became intermittent, and eventually she became silent. During that whole time, I had said little except the occasional "Yeah," "Uh-huh," and "I see." But to be honest, I got practically nothing out of my new wife's marathon of words. In fact, I hardly even noticed when she stopped talking.

Dottie had used a lot of words, but they meant little to me and did nothing to bring us closer together. Of course, she hadn't felt the need to explain to me what should have been obvious—that her exercise in self-disclosure was simply so that her brand-new husband could better know his brand-new wife. But when it became clear that I was clueless to what she was trying to accomplish, Dottie didn't remain shut down for long. She blew up!

It wasn't the best start to a honeymoon, but after Dottie explained what she was trying to do, and I did a lot of apologizing, we figured it out together. From that point on, our words began to make sense to one another. I began to see the loving heart of my wife, who wanted me to know her for who she is, and she began to see a husband who, despite his initial lapse into insensitivity, wanted to make his new wife happy.

As Dottie and I look back at our honeymoon now, we laugh about it. But it taught us the importance of words and of listening and interpreting and finding the true meaning of thoughts and feelings that flow from our hearts.

It takes time and effort to communicate effectively with meaningful words. It also takes time and effort to listen, translate, and accurately interpret the meaning of those words. In a real sense, there is an art to using words. And the God-breathed words of Scripture, in particular, artfully communicate a powerful message designed to bring meaning to our lives.

God Is the Master of Powerful Words

"God said, 'Let there be...