We Live and Die by Words
This I Believe
Randy D. Raysbrook
I believe we live and die by words.
Who I am today has been shaped by the words of:
My parents
My friends
My family
And by God
I have been sculpted and chiseled by others words, both good and bad.
Words:
* I love to see them on the written page
* I love to hear them
* I love to dissect them
* I love to memorize them
* I meditate on them, chewing on them over and over again in my mind
* I study their meanings and search out their histories
* I experiment with them in the laboratory of conversation
* I write them down in my learning log
* I find the dictionary great reading
I must face it… I am having a love affair with words.
I want my words to continue to speak long after I am dead. 80% of my ministry involves words, therefore I want them to be echoes of God’s thoughts.
My mission statement includes my love for words:
I
want to advance the kingdom of God by challenging others through words,
ideas, and metaphors to learn about and love God by becoming more
effective thinkers, communicators, and lifelong learners.
My love for words started in the early grades when I would consistently win spelling bees. I remember on one occasion in seventh grade when my teacher consulted with me about the proper way to pronounce a word. She wanted my advice And I confidently gave it to her, telling her the proper pronunciation. 20 years later I found out that my pronunciation was absolutely wrong.
My love for words continued to grow into high school where studying Latin increased that love. While I hated all of the dry memory work involved in it, each new word I learned opened to me new ways to understand the intoxicating power of a word well-used.
The school that I attended was like the movie Dead Poets Society, except it was run by Jesuit priests. They also loved words. Perhaps their love of words was contagious, almost viral. They dared us to memorize new words every week—big words, beautiful words, classical words, powerful words.
In one sense I was forced to love words. But what began with coercion ended up in passion.
I am passionate about words because I have learned that words are one of the most powerful forces on earth to change people.
When sinking in despair and a person cannot see God working in his or her own life, I want my words to remind them that my eyes can see what their’s cannot.
1. I use them to encourage and build up other men who want to grow in their faith
2. I use them as packages with which to wrap my feelings of love for Marilyn and my family
3.
I use them in different ways with each of our four grandchildren to
make each one realize how special they are to me—different words for
different kids
4. And when necessary, I use them as electric shocks for the stony hearts of those who are fighting God’s grace
Words can be bandages for the soul or hatchets to the heart. Because of that, I want to work hard to mark my ministry with words that are life-giving and life-affirming.
I want my words to repair, to revive, to reorient, to redeem, to redirect, to reclaim, to restore, and to resurrect
after all, that’s what God’s words do for me
When I speak to another, my words are passing on two things: my heart and my values. For that reason, I want to always be learning how to use my words more wisely, more appropriately, more tenderly, and more fearlessly.
But there’s a dark side to words. To the same degree that they give life, they can steal it. When I gossip or shade the truth, not only do I hurt people and God, I diminish the life-giving potential of words.
If I don’t let God take every word captive, my words can be like the reckless thrusts of the sword, like the crushing weight of a boulder, or like the toxic effects of a disease.
God has given me His Spirit to guide me as I learn about how to use words as He does. If I choose my words wisely, I give life to others. If I choose my words to further my own ends, I invite a slow death on others as well as myself.
As I learn to listen to God’s words to me, I can learn how my words can become fragrant, assuring, calming, edifying, truthful, courageous, and life-giving.
That’s why I believe we live and die by words.
