A Word In Season

Words and Their Meanings
By Ann Doupont

I’ve always liked words. Even as a child, I liked them. I didn’t always understand them, but I liked them.

In English class, we learned the different parts of speech. We learned that a verb was an action word. I liked that – action. We found out that nouns could either be a person, a place, or a thing and that there are proper and improper nouns – that those considered proper nouns were capitalized. There were also pronouns, which are words used to take the place of a noun in a sentence, such as saying “it” instead of stating the name of the object.

There are also various tenses of verbs. There is past tense, present tense, and future tense. Every sentence has to have a verb. Otherwise, it’s not a sentence. Sentences, then, can be as short as one word, such as the one-word sentence “Go.”

In studying the Bible, I found it important to understand the meanings of words. Not every verse in the Bible is written to every person. There are things written there which were for the people of that time. The many laws and statutes of the Old Testament, for example, are no longer applicable to the people on this side of Calvary’s cross.

When Jesus died and rose again from the grave, He changed many things. Whereas in the Old Testament, we find that the rules at that time were that it was to be “an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth,” Jesus changed that, saying that instead we’re to love our enemies. (See Matthew 5:38, 44.)

The Scriptures tell us that in these end times, there will be many deceptions. Many will fall away from the Lord (2 Thessalonians 2:3). Jesus said that the love of many will wax cold (Matthew 24:12) because of iniquity abounding.

When we think about what these things mean, we don’t have to be included in that number. We can think on things that are of good report (Philippians 4:8). We can think clearly. I have found that in order to do this, it means sorting out my thoughts; that is, thinking rightly and using right words.

I have therefore often prayed that the Father in Heaven gives me the right words, at the right time, for the right person. Knowing that He hears me when I pray according to His will (1 John 5:14-15), I therefore have that which I’ve requested.

The same is true for anyone who will also do this, as God is no respecter of persons (Acts 10:34). What He’s done for one of His children, He will do for another, if that other person does what the one person did.