Words That Devour

 

 

This being April 22, Psalm 52 is in my daily reading (I typically read Psalm 52 on January 22, April 22, July 22, and October 22).

 

The following struck me this morning, “You love all words that devour…” The psalmist is speaking of the wicked man, whose “tongue devises destruction, like a sharp razor.”

 

It seems to me that we live in a society that feeds off words that devour, and that we pass these words on to others. The most popular news channels are those – on both the “right” and the “left” - who attract viewers by issuing a steady stream of words that devour. The viewers internalize these words and then spew them out to others.

 

Then there are so-called “Christian” ministries that distinguish themselves by using words that devour those with whom they disagree, rather than having Jesus Christ as their center of gravity. Their adherents, in turn, are known not for being devoted to Jesus Christ, but are rather known for being opposed to other Christians. (I am not suggesting that we ignore false teaching and practice (of which there is plenty), ha! What am I doing right now? Tension, tension, tension!) When our main course is anything other than Jesus Christ we ought to take a step back, consider where we are, and return to our first love.

 

It is not unusual upon first meeting someone to be subjected to words that devour. People will proclaim what they have been reading and hearing (usually within the past few hours due to limited attention spans) and if you do not accept what they are saying, if you refuse to allow their words to devour you, then you often find a barrier between yourself and the other person and limited possibility of meaningful communication.

 

Of course, people often assume that you naturally agree with them and that there is no need to question anything they’ve received from others and are passing on to you. Sadly, many Christians so completely identify with political and nationalistic thinking, and the words that devour that are usually embedded in this thinking, that they cannot be distinguished from the world…since our citizenship is in heaven (Phil. 3:20; Heb. 11:13 – 16; 12:18 – 24) this is a particular tragedy.

 

I have visited churches in which it was assumed Vickie and I agreed with the predominate political views of the people. In fact, in these churches, as in many others, political mantras were more critical than the Apostles Creed, and political affiliation was the important common ground and basis for acceptance, rather than Jesus Christ and His Gospel.

 

“Words that devour” permeate our society. We hear them in song lyrics of virtually all genres. We hear them in sports – from trash talking to more violent language. Our movies and television shows are animated by words that devour – words that destroy our hearts and minds and souls and reduce us beneath the dignity of men and women and children created in the image of God. Our popular authors produce written words that devour, and we are foolish enough to think that we can read their words with impunity – words of violence, sex, material lust, and self-deification. (And make no mistake, much “Christian” writing is not about Jesus Christ, it is about us – shame on us! These are also words that devour.)  

 

Words that devour eat our souls and corrupt our minds and turn us into earth dwellers, perhaps even into beasts of the earth. Words no longer are vehicles for thought and communication, they become cudgels to beat the opposition into senseless submission. They are also words to seduce us to sleep in the lap of Delilah.

 

Yet, Jesus says that His words are “spirit and are life.” Jesus tells us that “the flesh profits nothing” (John 6:63). Paul writes, “Let your speech always be with grace, as though seasoned with salt, so that you will know how you should respond to each person.” (Col. 4:6).

 

Paul writes, “The Lord’s bondservant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged, with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth…” (2 Tim. 2:24 – 25). And let me stress that “the truth” that Paul is writing of is not political truth, it is the truth of Jesus Christ.

 

Our calling is to be Light and Life to those around us, it is to call others to our Lord Jesus Christ, and as the hymn goes, we do this by sharing “beautiful words, wonderful words, wonderful words of life…words of life and beauty.”

 

We have the Word of eternal Life…will we share that Word with others? Will we “appear as lights in the world” (Phil. 2:15) with words of goodness, truth, and beauty in Jesus Christ? Will we counter words that devour with words that give hope and joy and light and life and love in Jesus Christ?

 

Will we do this today?