New Words, Old Words

Psalm 33:4-5 For the word of the LORD is right and true; he is faithful in all he does. The LORD loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of his unfailing love. (NIV)

Whatever language you happen to speak at home, new words and phrases are being added to your dictionary much more frequently than you might expect. But that’s by no means a new thing.

According to a recent press article, William Shakespeare is credited with inventing more than 1,700 words, including “bedroom,” “courtship,” and “swagger.” Charles Dickens is said to have first used the words “butterfingers” and “doormat,” and Dr. Seuss reportedly came up with “nerd.”

These days, mostly thanks to inventive young women on social media, we’re seeing things like “digital nomad,” “hellscape,” “trauma dumping” – new words that reflect the zeitgeist, the spirit of our times.

After all, the world’s moved on from the days of old. Things have changed. We’re dealing with issues that our forebears could never even have dreamed of. And so it’s easy to think of our current social views, our contemporary thoughts, as being more advanced than those of the past.

Yet so much of what we think of as “progress” is ruining so many lives; destroying marriages; making children fatherless; consigning the basics of life to the scrapheap. But …

Psalm 33:4-5 … the word of the LORD is right and true; he is faithful in all he does. The LORD loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of his unfailing love. (NIV)

Whatever language you speak, wherever you live, whatever you do … don’t discard the Word of God. It’s right, it’s true. It speaks His faithfulness, His goodness, His justice into our hearts. In a world that’s increasingly in disarray, not every new idea represents progress.

Sometimes we need to go back to basics to discover that the world is indeed full of God’s unfailing love.

That’s His Word. Fresh … for you … today.