I’ve been thinking a lot today about words. From my previous posts, it’s probably apparent that I could be the star of the new PBS kids show entitled “Word Girl.” One of my favorite college courses was “The History of the English Language,” if that tells you anything! I’ve been reading Randy Alcorn’s book, Safely Home, which is a fictional account of a businessman who gets up close and personal with Chinese persecution of Christians. I became intrigued when one of the main characters explains a theory that the Chinese written language has its origin in the Biblical account of creation. I googled “Chinese characters and biblical accounts” and found a host of websites all describing the same things. I also found a healthy number of websites that hotly contested these theories. The main argument against seems to be that only a few Chinese characters have supposed links to the Creation account. Nevertheless, I thought it certainly bears looking into! Here is an example:

Lamb + (above) me = Righteousness

Under the old covenant, the Hebrews sacrificed lambs as atonement for their sins. Interestingly enough, the ancient Chinese believed in an all-powerful Creator God (with a similar creation story) — and they, too, sacrificed lambs. In particular, “the sheep is placed above the symbol for I/me. The position of the sheep is significant and it suggests that the source of righteousness comes from the sheep.” (from authors Kui Shin Voo and Larry Hovee, http://www.answersingenesis.org/tj/v13/i1/chinese.asp.) The source of MY righteousness is also from a lamb — Jesus, the Lamb of God, who sacrificed himself for my sins!

Where am I going with this? All this musing about words got me thinking about the first chapter of John, which is all about words. Can you wrap your mind around the fact that:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God; this one was in the beginning with God; all things through him did happen, and without him happened not even one thing that hath happened. John 1:1-3

The Word (Christ) was WITH God, and the Word (Christ) WAS God. How can Christ be both WITH God and also BE God? So I turned to my concordance and looked up the meaning of the original Greek word.

Logos, when used with an article (the) as in John 1:1-3, means the Divine Expression — account, cause, communication, intent, utterance.

Aha! Let’s replace some words and see what we get:

In the beginning was the (Divine Expression, Intent, Communication), and the (Divine Expression, Intent, Communication) was with God, and the (Divine Expression, Intent, Communication) was God; this one was in the beginning with God; all things through him (the Intent) did happen, and without him (the Intent) happened not even one thing that hath happened. John 1:1-3

Jesus was God’s intent all along. Jesus, in the flesh and now in the Spirit, is God’s communication to us. God’s Word (Christ) is literally who He is. This answers my earlier question about how Christ could be WITH God and also BE God.

“The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” John 1:14

Christ, when he became flesh, became the walking manifestation of God’s heart, (his Words).

Have you ever thought about how your words are literally who you are? Jesus said it this way:

“The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks.“ Luke 6:45

So what about my words? God is showing me tonight that my heart directs my words. What is the condition of my heart? How can I put myself under a microscope to make sure that I continue abiding in Christ?

Hebrews 4:12:”For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.”

When I get into the word of God (the Bible), I am also getting into the Word of God (Christ). He shows me my heart and brings to mind my words. I confess and repent of the thoughts and attitudes and words I have said that do not glorify Him (by the renewing of my mind).

I hope I have not confused you with this discourse. It’s been a thoughtful journey tonight. My prayer is that perhaps this line of thought might be encouraging to those who, like me, tend to “gloss over” and “overlook” the words in Scripture that appear to be contradictory or unclear. When we dig deeper into His Word, he rewards us with understanding and helps us open our eyes to some of the hidden things.

The one thing, the shining thing that matters is this: I am so grateful that the Logos, the Divine Expression, the Word, the Christ — is IN me.