Words

A note to my fellow wordies: After going to the Merriam-Webster online dictionary at Merriam-Webster.com to key in any word —say, basket— to discover its definition, you can scroll down to “Learn More about basket.” Then click on “Time Traveler for basket” and learn the exact year basket came into known use in the English language. Recently, I keyed freeze-dried into Merriam-Webster’s search box to make sure it should be hyphenated, and I learned this adjective came into use in 1946, which is the year my brother was born. I decided to see what words made their entrance into English the year I was born. Here are a few terms that came into common usage that year: quiz show, nose job, MIA, DNA, debrief, thrift shop, top secret, trickle-down, skimobile, gobbledygook, bungee cord, aviator glasses, dishpan hands, and forklift. Reading this list made me wonder how people in the United States of America ever communicated before 1944! While these words are still in use today, other words from “back in the day” have fallen into disuse or lost their meanings —their power— altogether.

For example, the noun westing emerged in 1638 and means going in a westward direction. Yet you and I both know another ancient word that will never lose its meaning or its power. And that is the Word of God. An Old Testament writer proclaimed, “Your eternal word, O LORD, stands firm in heaven” (Psalm 119:89, NLT).

To early church believers, the apostle Peter wrote, “For you have been born again. … Your new life will last forever because it comes from the eternal, living word of God” (1 Peter 1:23, NLT). One commentator defined this word as the “doctrine of the living God.”* Many words, over time, have lost their function and power. Yet one word will outlast them all: the life-empowering, life-sustaining Word of God.

As both Old and New Testament writers point out, the eternal Word points us to eternal life. “The Gentiles … glorified the word of the Lord.

And as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed” (Acts 13:48, NKJV). Have you spent time in God’s Word today?

Carolyn Rathbun Sutton