This post is a devotional I gave earlier this month at the Jackson Christian Writer’s Fellowship meeting. I hope that you’re encouraged by it, whether or not you’re a writer.
But if you are a writer in the Jackson, TN area, we’d love for you to join us at these meetings the first Saturday morning of every month. Contact me for more info.
As writers, obviously we think a lot about words. How they sound, what they mean, where they fit, who they are intended for, and the like. We probably have our favorite words and phrases we use, in thoughts, conversation, prayer, and writing.
Take a minute and think of a favorite word or phrase. Does thinking of this word or phrase make you even a little bit happier?
One of my all-time favorite words is logos which means “The Word”. The Word, or logos, applies both to Jesus and to Scripture. The Word, logos, which is both for giving life and for going about life.
Speaking of going about life, Scripture has a lot of words to say about how to live as Christ did. And as Christians who write, Scripture has a lot to say to us directly. It tells us of the power of the tongue (i.e. our own words themselves) to bring life or death, blessing or cursing, hope or despair, through words spoken or written. With this in mind, we are always given the choice to use words to display the beauty of the Word, Jesus Christ, the logos, or to put ourselves on display. And from personal experience, that second option’s never gonna turn out beautiful…
One of my favorite set of words from Scripture is Proverbs 25:11 MSG “The right word at the right time is like a custom-made piece of jewelry.” Another version of this verse says “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver.” All the women on my mother’s side of the family love to wear pretty jewelry. On that note, as a writer, I’d love to wear a brooch or necklace made of gold apples set in silver. That piece of jewelry would be a literal reminder of the importance of words always given with the purpose of Jesus, The Word, logos, Who gave His life for all of us.
Some other favorite sets of words of mine from Scripture that encourage me as a Christian who writes are:
Psalm 119:103 ESV “How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!”
Proverbs 16:24 CEV “Kind words are like honey – they cheer you up and make you feel strong.”
Psalm 34:8 MSG “Open your mouth and taste, open your eyes and see – how good God is. Blessed are you who run to Him.”
I’ll restrain myself because of time on sharing even more of the oh-so-many-more favorite sets of words from Scripture. But I challenge all of us to find new ways to bring the Word, Jesus (Logos) and the Word, Scripture (logos) into our conversations, speaking, and writing to the oh-so-many who haven’t tasted the honey-sweetness of Scripture and of our Good God in their lives.
Let’s take some time in coming days to think about how our words can cheer others up and make them strong by pointing them straight to our Good God. God has brought us to this task of writing and this moment in history for the purpose of telling the Good News about our Jesus. It’s our opportunity to open our mouths and minds to do exactly that with our words in the gracious and undeniable love of our Good God that lingers in a sweetness found only in residing in the Person and Presence of God Himself, the Logos, and Father of our hope.
If you were heartened by these words from my heart to yours, please like and share this post so that others might hear more of our Logos and be heartened today too! Also, if you’re not already signed up to follow this blog, please do that on the link below, thanks!
Stay tuned for more information coming soon on “Well-Grounded: Cultivating Intimacy with God” from Northeastern Baptist Press. The more I work on this book, the more excited I get about this book! And the more grateful I become for the opportunity to write here and in books, too!
written by and copyrighted to Beth Madison, Ph.D., 2023.
Soul Scientist 
Leave a comment