Awesome? or Awesome!!!!
Communicating with others whether privately or professionally is an important factor in everyday life. We are so used to communicating through e-mails or on facebook. Sentences may or not start with a subject that is capitalized. New words like "selfies" pop into our vocabulary while older more expressive words atrophy from lack of use. Speed and ease seem to have a greater value than accurate and wise communication.
When our children were growing up I would tell them that swearing was not pleasing to God. I would also tell them that swearing communicated little to others except that you had a negative attitude. Swearing often seems nonsensical when you are looking for facts and not just emotion.
Ever since I can remember, most of us have abused the word love. One of the definitions for love is a feeling of strong or constant affection for a person. That definition is only the beginning. On a regular basis, I hear someone use the verb love to communicate strong, positive feeling for everything from a favorite flavor of ice cream to a favorite department store. I can't help but wonder how this overuse of the word love affects our ability to express our love for God as well as the important people in our lives.
In our typical American fashion or perhaps it's typical human fashion, we have to sink to a lower level as we continue to water down our language. What we have done to the word awesome is one more downward step on what seems like a slippery slope. Awesome used to be a special word reserved for God or breathtaking things like the Grand Canyon or the sun rising or setting over the ocean. Now the word awesome refers to the latest technology, your paint job on the house, your raise, your new car. The list goes on and on.
Merriam - Webster dictionary defines awe as an emotion variously combining dread, veneration and wonder that is inspired by authority or by the sacred or sublime. I don't think an ice cream flavor or paint color fit this definition. How do we successfully use a word like awesome to describe the glories of creation or the wonders of God's character when it has been used again and again to describe things that are anything but what is sacred or sublime?
Perhaps we need to be like the Jews who used to hold the name of God so sacred that they would use the name, Adonai instead of His special name Yahweh. At least we had better banish all flip or shallow phrases when we talk about God and His work. In this world where communicating clearly has a very low priority shouldn't we choose wisely and well as we seek to share about the one who governs our world and upholds all things by His power?
Our heavenly father has always been the gracious communicator in the way He has handled the deepest and most marvelous truths of all times. May we each reflect that grace as we communicate with others.
When our children were growing up I would tell them that swearing was not pleasing to God. I would also tell them that swearing communicated little to others except that you had a negative attitude. Swearing often seems nonsensical when you are looking for facts and not just emotion.
Ever since I can remember, most of us have abused the word love. One of the definitions for love is a feeling of strong or constant affection for a person. That definition is only the beginning. On a regular basis, I hear someone use the verb love to communicate strong, positive feeling for everything from a favorite flavor of ice cream to a favorite department store. I can't help but wonder how this overuse of the word love affects our ability to express our love for God as well as the important people in our lives.
In our typical American fashion or perhaps it's typical human fashion, we have to sink to a lower level as we continue to water down our language. What we have done to the word awesome is one more downward step on what seems like a slippery slope. Awesome used to be a special word reserved for God or breathtaking things like the Grand Canyon or the sun rising or setting over the ocean. Now the word awesome refers to the latest technology, your paint job on the house, your raise, your new car. The list goes on and on.
Merriam - Webster dictionary defines awe as an emotion variously combining dread, veneration and wonder that is inspired by authority or by the sacred or sublime. I don't think an ice cream flavor or paint color fit this definition. How do we successfully use a word like awesome to describe the glories of creation or the wonders of God's character when it has been used again and again to describe things that are anything but what is sacred or sublime?
Perhaps we need to be like the Jews who used to hold the name of God so sacred that they would use the name, Adonai instead of His special name Yahweh. At least we had better banish all flip or shallow phrases when we talk about God and His work. In this world where communicating clearly has a very low priority shouldn't we choose wisely and well as we seek to share about the one who governs our world and upholds all things by His power?
Our heavenly father has always been the gracious communicator in the way He has handled the deepest and most marvelous truths of all times. May we each reflect that grace as we communicate with others.
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