Our lives are filled with words. The radio, the television, the cellphone, the children, the colleagues, the spouse… all speaking, often all at once.
I have been pondering the purpose of words and whose words should take precedence in my life.
Thinking about my own words and the effect (or lack of effect) they have, takes me back to when my children were young. I often felt as if I was speaking into the wind, repeating everything over and over again without the slightest response. My frustration would rise until I felt I could throw something in order to draw attention to what I was trying to say. Words are not meant to be an indistinct humming in the background of our lives. They are meant to be clearly heard. They are meant to communicate a message and to elicit a response. I often had to tell my children to stop what they were doing, to look at my face and to listen to my words. Before they did so, they couldn’t hear me. They were too busy in their own worlds and their own words to attend to anyone… except an authority figure.
I remember the relief I felt when Riekert walked into the room. I knew his presence would guarantee success. He would repeat my words and there would be immediate action. At last! The father, the authority had spoken and his words were meant to be obeyed.
The word requires response or it has failed in its purpose.
Jesus is called the Word of God. At God's word the world was created. All things seen and unseen were created by and through and for Jesus Christ. When Jesus, the Man, spoke, people were amazed by His authority. His words were not like other men's words. They were filled with the authority of God. Jesus only spoke the words that He heard the Father speak. He never spoke out of His own authority. Jesus’ words calmed the wind and sea, healed the sick and raised the dead. Jesus’ words brought peace, hope and joy or wrath, revenge and hatred. Jesus, the Word of God, demands response. You and I cannot hear His voice and remain unaffected. We will either bow our knees and worship or we will deliberately reject Him. We can never plead passivity and inattention. It is one or the other.
The question is what do we do at the sound of His voice?