In the beginning of the Bible God said: Let there be sun, moon, land, sea, plants, animals, fish and people. And it was so. With a very small number of words, the Lord created and populated an entire world. It all happened just as he said it would.
Today, we have created a very large number of words. On the internet we can find billions of words on millions of subjects. In our letterboxes, TVs and via telemarketing we receive many, many words of promise for better government, better homes, better bodies, and a better life. And in our social media, we share not only other people’s words with our friends, but their videos too. Given that a ‘picture is worth a thousand words’, surely this is another gear-shift up.
So, what is the value of this communication? It may be an attempt to inform, persuade and relate together, but the shear volume of information we receive each day is a sea of words in which we are drowning. If we spend too long focusing on anything we will go under. No, it’s much better to just skim across the surface and stay afloat.
Into this torrent comes the good news of Jesus. Even in Jesus’ day (of relatively fewer ‘words’) the people were amazed at his teaching because things would happen when he spoke. People could see again, walk again, hear again, and be free from the demons, who would obey him. He spoke and it all happened just as he said it would.
If our words are to become useful again, they need to be well-connected to us. We can promise but we must be able to deliver. We can collect information but we must DO something with it. We can ‘like’ and become ‘friends’ in our social media updates but we mustn’t mistake this for showing the genuine hospitality that is required as we truly share our very lives with others.
The good news of God re-connects our words with our actions and our lives. Anything less… IS less. To stay afloat in a sea of words we need to move our arms and legs.
Glen Morris
National Director