How We Say It

I want to share with you all a devotion that I shared with the deacons a few years ago. It is a devotion originally written for “By The Way” and is entitled “How We Say It”. It is also one of my favorites.

“Listen, for I have worthy things to say, I open my lips to speak what is right. Proverbs 8:6

It’s Saturday and I don’t have a lot to say. 

In truth, there’s not much going on today. There’s no national holiday to talk about, no special events going on. That doesn’t make any difference; there are many anxiously waiting to get this devotion.

Maybe it’s time to go to the in-case-of-emergency file. That’s where interesting facts have been filed away to be used on a day such as this.

Oh, here’s something. It was compiled by folks who enjoy investigating trivia. These folks tell me the Lord’s Prayer contains 56 words; Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address has 266; the Ten Commandments have only 297 words, and the Declaration of Independence reads a little longer at 300.

In spite of the shortness of these great writings of the Lord and of history, a recent U.S. government order that set the price of cabbage weighed in at a word-heavy 26,911 words.

Now, I think there’s a lesson to be learned from this.

It’s not how many words are used that make things important. No, It’s the subject matter and the topic which gives words their importance and power.

And the truth is this: nobody is better than the Lord when it comes to speaking in concise, clear terminology. When God loves us, it doesn’t take an encyclopedia to pass the word along. When God loves us, He says so.

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life” John 3:16.

There, you have it: 25 words.

No commentary, no dictionary, no serious debate can make any improvement on what God tell us in those 25 words.

That’s God’s truth. In Jesus’ sacrifice, His life, death, and resurrection, God has told us that believers are forgiven and saved. That’s God’s truth.

And that’s enough for today.”

Dear Lord, help me keep my life simple and focused on the important things – that You love me and through Your Son’s sacrifice have prepared a place for me in Your Kingdom.

In Jesus’ Name, I give thanks. Amen

Jim Kerner