The Word That Never Gets Old

“In the beginning was the Word, and Word was with God, and the Word was God.”  John 1:1

I heard some television personalities talking one day about how some words and phrases are overused.  They are what are known as “buzz” words or phrases which practically take on a life of their own because they are repeated over and over by one news commentator after another.  It’s almost like they are reading from the same script.  Two of the phrases that are overused are “breaking news” and “news alert”.  Most of the time, the news that is breaking was already reported the day before or earlier.  When I hear “news alert”, my ears perk up thinking that I am going to hear something new, like the people in Athens (Acts 17:21) who spent their day either to tell or hear some new thing, though, hopefully, I am not that shallow.  After the alert is reported, I think to myself, “Oh, I heard that two days ago”.

Society also overuses words and phrases such as “awesome”, “just sayin'”, “totally”, “my bad”, and “actually”.  Even some of these have been discarded as of late so that folks aren’t seen as out-of-date in their conversations.  The one that is really overused and is not necessary in conversation is “honestly”.  Folks say this as if they want to assure their listeners that they are telling the truth and not lying! “Honestly” is mostly said out of habit.  Ordinary folks aren’t the only ones who overuse words.  Manufacturers label their products with “new and improved”.  Are they telling us that the product was not all that great to start with?  By the way, “great” is also overused according to the “word police”.   Products labeled “new and improved” seem the same to me most of the time.  It is probably just a marketing gimmick to sell more of their product.

In high school, we had our favorite phrases.  The main one that I remember was “count on it”.  Anything anyone would say someone else would say “count on it”.  It was eventually shortened to “C.O.”  Teenagers likely have their popular phrases now, but with so much vulgarity being accepted, I don’t want to know what they are.  Years ago, when I worked at the nearby Air Force base, a co-worker started a phrase that we all began to use.  Every time someone would make a comment, someone would say, “Who cares?”  You had to be there to appreciate the humor in that, but remember, we were working for the federal government!

The Bible has many words and phrases that are so familiar to us, but these words and phrases can never be overused because they are the words of life.  Some of the most familiar are “In the beginning God…” (Genesis 1:1); The Lord is my shepherd” (Psalm 23:1), “Our Father which art in heaven” (Luke 11:2); Trust in the Lord with all thine heart” (Proverbs 3:5); “Fear not” (numerous verses); “For unto you is born this day a Savior” (Luke 2:11), and probably the most quoted phrase “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son” (John 3:16).  I never get tired of hearing or reading these words from God’s Holy Book because they all say that God loves us.  I don’t know of anyone who doesn’t want to hear that they are loved.  I am reminded of that old joke about the wife who complained that her husband never said that he loved her.  He said, “I said that I loved you when we married, and if anything changes, I will let you know.”  I am glad that God is constantly reminding me that He loves me.  We also need to tell God that we love Him every day.  It wouldn’t hurt to tell our family members as well.

Today’s verse, John 1:1, tells us that Jesus is the Word of God.  Everything written in scripture points to Christ.  Webster’s Dictionary tells us that someone’s word is an “affirmation, an assurance, and a promise”.  Jesus as the Word affirms His deity, assures us of His love for us, and promises eternal life to all who repent and believe in Him.  That’s the good news, the good Word of the gospel which never gets old or out-of-date.