A LOVER OF WORDS
“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1); “The word of our God will stand forever” (Isaiah 40:8); “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1).
The true and living God loves words. As the Genesis text affirms: the universe—all that we can see and feel and hear and know and much more besides—came to be through his words. Not by silent fiat did he create. But by him speaking, all of it came into existence. And not like human words are these words of his. We humans speak, the air moves, and sometimes lives and history change, but these words are the product of time and eventually their impact will fade. But his words “will stand forever.”
No wonder he has his servant John call his dear Son, Jesus Christ, “the Word.” This One, the Word, is eternal, expresses all that is in the heart and mind of God and what he wishes to communicate with his rational creation. And it is this divine Word who brings new life and what he has accomplished through his words will stand forever.
And we who are believers in him are called to speak—not to keep silence, but to speak the “oracles of God” (1 Peter 4:11) that are encapsulated in the written revelation of the Scriptures. Calling on all and sundry, in the words of Augustine of Hippo (354-430), tolle lege, “pick up and read.”
Long before I became a Christian I loved words. Their sound and timbre, their mystery and allusions, their look on a page delighted me. I confess it: I am a logophile from way back! Becoming a Christian not only gave eternal meaning to this love but showed me why I loved words. God first loved words and I was a mere imitator.
And loving words I loved their print container—books. There is no doubt in this regard that I am a product of the Gutenberg world. Then came word processing. No problem here for a Gutenberg man, since I regularly convert processed word into hard copy, and now have mounds of it waiting to be filed!
But then came the blog and blogging. Though the words which describe these activities intrigued me, the prospect of having my words primarily on the screen and not in hand dismayed me. A day or so ago, Hugh Hewitt’s Blog: Understanding the Information Reformation that’s Changing Your World (Thomas Nelson, 2005), recommended by a good friend, Clint Humfrey, convinced me otherwise.
May I blog for the glory of the Triune God and for the sake of his Word.
The true and living God loves words. As the Genesis text affirms: the universe—all that we can see and feel and hear and know and much more besides—came to be through his words. Not by silent fiat did he create. But by him speaking, all of it came into existence. And not like human words are these words of his. We humans speak, the air moves, and sometimes lives and history change, but these words are the product of time and eventually their impact will fade. But his words “will stand forever.”
No wonder he has his servant John call his dear Son, Jesus Christ, “the Word.” This One, the Word, is eternal, expresses all that is in the heart and mind of God and what he wishes to communicate with his rational creation. And it is this divine Word who brings new life and what he has accomplished through his words will stand forever.
And we who are believers in him are called to speak—not to keep silence, but to speak the “oracles of God” (1 Peter 4:11) that are encapsulated in the written revelation of the Scriptures. Calling on all and sundry, in the words of Augustine of Hippo (354-430), tolle lege, “pick up and read.”
Long before I became a Christian I loved words. Their sound and timbre, their mystery and allusions, their look on a page delighted me. I confess it: I am a logophile from way back! Becoming a Christian not only gave eternal meaning to this love but showed me why I loved words. God first loved words and I was a mere imitator.
And loving words I loved their print container—books. There is no doubt in this regard that I am a product of the Gutenberg world. Then came word processing. No problem here for a Gutenberg man, since I regularly convert processed word into hard copy, and now have mounds of it waiting to be filed!
But then came the blog and blogging. Though the words which describe these activities intrigued me, the prospect of having my words primarily on the screen and not in hand dismayed me. A day or so ago, Hugh Hewitt’s Blog: Understanding the Information Reformation that’s Changing Your World (Thomas Nelson, 2005), recommended by a good friend, Clint Humfrey, convinced me otherwise.
May I blog for the glory of the Triune God and for the sake of his Word.
