the One Word: Jesus

It is commonly known in the Christian world that the Bible is referred to as "the word of God." And so its become a phrase we throw around to add meaning or seriousness to a request or in describing how we've spent our morning: "well, you need to do this or that-I mean, the Bible says so, and it is the word of God." or "I was just spending a few minutes in the word."

I love John 1. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." So God is the Word, and is with the Word, and the Word is beginning to sound like some kind of entity or life, some thing more than what I might call a word in my every day life. Well, John goes on to write, "the Word became flesh and has dwelt among us." Huh?!? The Word became flesh? Suddenly, I'm thinking John must be talking about Jesus...

And he is.

Jesus is the Word. So, its like God had stuff he wanted us to hear, and so He spoke this word, and the word that came out of His mouth wasn't just some word like you or I know, the word that came out of His mouth was His very own Son, Jesus.

So I think about the "word of God" or the Bible. But the Bible is many words. Thousands of words; in fact, so many words that sometimes I start to get confused or begin to feel like I'm really missing the meaning of the words. But what if all those words that form the many sentences and thoughts that are the Bible, what if those words are really all trying just to describe one word... One Word, namely, Jesus? And that is exactly what they are doing.

Jesus IS the Word of God. God only needed to speak one word to us, and He chose to speak His Son to us, instead of preaching and trying to convince us, or sway our minds with ration and philosophy, God instead chose to speak to us a relationship. He sent Jesus. Rather, He spoke Jesus to us, and in Him (Jesus) He showed us a love that would stop at no end to love, and a freedom that communicated a release from religious burden and guilt and a rescue from a dark, sinister evil that longs to destroy us. This was God's Word.

You know, I get so worked up at times, wanting to communicate some deep truth to my friend, and really wanting them to 'get it.' And I am so sure that I'm right, and that if they just saw things my way, they'd have a clearer understanding that would really improve their quality of life or make them way more obedient and perfect. And I wonder if all those words I use, all of the arguing and manipulating and discourse are just really wasted words, empty words, just meaningless that is going to burn when judged before the throne of God.

Because if God chose to speak only one Word to us, isn't that really the only Word worth mentioning? Jesus. And I know that we, and me too, will probably wake up tomorrow morning and get into some discussion with an acquaintance over the "word of God," and will debate and and talk in circles around the meaning of one or two verses, or maybe some concept that we believe the we hold the corner market on, and we'll walk away from that conversation thinking that at least we tried to obediently and humbly show the other their faults and wrong thinking and put them on the 'better path.' And you know what? We'll be wrong. We'll have acted in pride, not humility, and we'll have spoken empty and meaningless words that all don't matter a stitch because they all fell short of describing the Jesus that truly is the Word of God.

There is only One Word for us to speak. Predestination or Free Choice? Jesus. Pre-millenial or post-millenial? Jesus. Republican/Democrat? Praying in tongues? Infant baptism? Seeker-friendly or emergent church? Can we please begin to see that all of the things we hold so dearly too and all of the things we waste our precious words on are all nothing, rubbish in fact, compared to Jesus?

God help us. Help us to know your Son, to truly hear the Word You are speaking to us. To lay ALL aside in order to know and hear Him... we need You.

Here's a quote I read once, and if you know who spoke this or wrote this, I would love to know who, but I read it on a bulletin of a church I attended a long time ago:

"Selfish love talks to people about Jesus. Self-less love talks to Jesus about people."

I think I'm really beginning to love when my first response is not to quickly speak up and set someone straight on their messed-up views, but rather when my first instinct is to drop to my knees and pray that they might know Jesus more, right where they're at right now.

The irony is how many words I just used... I probably should have just written this:

Jesus: the Son and the One Word of God.