In the War of Words, It's {Still} Time for a Better Word

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In the War of Words, It's {Still} Time for a Better Word

I love words, but I am so tired of them. Seriously, the twisting and manipulating, the demeaning and degrading, it all has me completely worn out.

I wrote a blog post last year entitled In the War of Words, It’s Time for a Better Word, and I guess you could consider this post a part 2, because ironically, I have a few more words to say about these wars our words are waging. The emotional ammunition with which we keep firing back keeps us all raging. It’s a vicious cycle. Ya wanna know why?

Because we keep opening our mouths before we open God’s Word, or rather, we may be opening It, but we certainly aren’t doing what It says.

And since this battle we find ourselves in “is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms” (Ephesians 6:12), we must “put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, we may be able to stand our ground, and after we’ve have done everything, to stand.” (Ephesians 6:13)

Why are we fighting with our words when God has called us STAND on His Word and SPEAK His Word? It is the only offensive weapon in our armor. We must wield well the Sword of the Spirit if we are to defeat the enemy, the god of this world, the author of lies, the deceiver of souls by taking down his strongholds, dividing his lies from God’s truth, and setting his captives free to experience true victory in Jesus.

Yes, indeed, the very Word of God is sharper than any double edge sword, and It is the only weapon we need to defeat the enemy. Our words are merely weapons against each other and do nothing to defeat the real enemy.

We must stop using OUR words (our explanations and definitions) because they are skewed ever so slightly to fit into OUR point of view, and they will always fall short of the target of the enemy.

Nuance and semantics allow us to say a whole lot while really saying nothing at all. Because without the power of God behind them, words will always fall short. They will always be misunderstood. They will always be used to confuse. They will always be manipulated to elevate one group/person while putting down the next. It is simply the way of the world, and our words will always go that way apart from God’s Word and His Way.

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Woke vs. Awake: The Gap is Great

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Woke vs. Awake: The Gap is Great

The gap between the woke and the awake is getting greater and greater while the cost to stay awake is getting higher and higher. The more aware of the difference between the Word and the world I become, the more evident the distance between those who are woke and those who are awake becomes. The gap is growing greater because the two are going in opposite directions.

Let me take a moment to define the two terms I’m using (as I understand their meaning and as I am using them in this post):

Woke — those who are aware of and actively attentive to important facts and issues (especially issues of racial and social justice). They typically advocate for reconciliation by extra-Biblical and anti-Biblical means using the framework of ideologies such as Critical Theory and Critical Race Theory, and in my opinion, defeat the purpose of reconciliation by further dividing people by intersectionality (or the interconnected nature of social categorizations such as race, class, and gender as they apply to a given individual or group, regarded as creating overlapping and interdependent systems of discrimination or disadvantage).

Two quotes I recently read that sum up wokeness pretty well:

Wokeness is today’s religion. Cancel culture is it’s sacrament. — David Benham

Wokeness is a graceless religion. It never forgives past missteps. Its mission is to kill, steal, and destroy. It wants destruction and not restoration. As you stand for Biblical truth, wokeness will criticize you, demonize you, terrorize you, and someday soon, criminalize you. But love... Love keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not dishonor others. Choose love, not hate. Reject cancel culture. — Brian J. Dixon

And now, my take on being awake…

Awake — those who are aware of the enemy’s deception and use of these worldly ideologies to try to confuse Biblical Truth. Those who hold fast to sound doctrinal theology and see things through the lens of a Biblical Worldview realizing God does not show partiality, nor does He want His people to show partiality. (James 2:1, Acts 10:34-35, Romans 2:11, Galatians 3:28, 1 Timothy 5:21, Proverbs 28:21) Those who are awake, in my opinion, are wide awake and well aware of the deception and want to stand up for the Truth they know is the only way to true reconciliation.

The woke want to right the wrongs of the world by their own means and with their own terms and conditions while the awake know only God can right the wrongs, in fact, He already did, and it has NOTHING to do with us and what we do or don’t do and EVERYTHING to do with Him and what He has already done on our behalf.

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Sound the Alarm. Remove from Harm. Equip and Arm.

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Sound the Alarm. Remove from Harm. Equip and Arm.

Three things God dropped in my heart this morning as I spent time in His Word. As stern as they seem, they’re three things I believe every Christian must learn to do and teach others to do, too. They encouraged and challenged me. If you are a Christ follower, I pray they do the same for you...

  1. Sound the alarm. Don’t grow weary or be silent. Stay alert and on guard.

  2. Remove from harm. We are not saviors, but we can be harbingers.

  3. Equip and arm. (Ephesians 6:10-20) God equips us with His whole armor. Each piece plays an important role in the battle plan. It is not enough to just know about it. We cannot live without it. Armor up, and teach others to do the same.

As I was reading in James 4 this morning, I was reminded that as believers, we cannot be “friends” with the world. To be a friend with the world is to be an enemy of God. It’s adultery. I’m not being hyperbolic. That’s what the Word says. (James 4:4) We can love our neighbors (Mark 12:31) and even love our enemies (Matt 5:44) without getting into bed with them. As Christians, we are to be set apart. To be set apart is to be different from the world. The ways of the world and the ways of the Word are not the same. We must live by God’s standard, lest we be enamored by the world’s glamor. We cannot be Christians in name only. We must bear fruit (Matt 6:17).

We are either following God and living by His Word (walking with Him) or we are chasing things of this world (turning our back on Him). We cannot do both.

As I read the Word this morning (James 4 and Ephesians 6 specifically), I couldn’t help but think of a time years ago when God illustrated these truths for me through a real life experience. When our oldest son was young, maybe 2 or 3, we had just returned home from somewhere that he had gotten a balloon. If you’re a mom, I’m sure you remember those days well, or maybe you’re living them now. We had on street parking at our house in town, so we were teaching him to get out of the car on the side of the sidewalk and house as opposed to getting out on the side of the street. We had gotten him out of the car and he was standing on the sidewalk with his ballon, when suddenly, he let go of this prized possession. Instead of taking off into the air, the balloon hovered low to the ground and danced down the sidewalk and out into the street. Like most toddlers would, Joshua naturally just chased after the balloon. And this is where the split second scary situation transitions to the slo-mo “Chariots of Fire” pace as my husband raced to the rescue shouting, “Stop!” He saw a car coming down the street straight toward this oblivious little boy enamored by his runaway balloon, and this father did everything in his power to...

Sound the alarm. (Shout.) Remove from harm. (Pick him up and carry him to safety.) And equip and arm. (Talk to him about future dangerous situations.)

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His Ever Present Light is Greater Than This Present Darkness

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His Ever Present Light is Greater Than This Present Darkness

This. Present. Darkness.

I heard these three words strung together as Chelsey, the host of the Living with Less Podcast quoted verse 12 of Ephesians 6 in the English Standard Version. This verse is found in the passage of scripture that explains what the armor of God is and why we, as Christians, should take up this armor every single day.

When I heard Chelsey say these words, and read them again in God’s Word, it reminded me of a book I read years ago when I first started walking with the Lord. The book, This Present Darkness by Frank Peretti, is a fictional allegory that sheds light on a spiritual reality. There’s a reason God gives us His armor. We are at war with the forces of evil. Light vs Dark. Good vs Evil. God vs Satan.

The sole purpose of the armor of God is to battle THIS PRESENT DARKNESS.

THIS. As in “This” right here, not “that” over there. It is right in front of us. It is creeping up behind us, and it is all around us seeking to devour us. It is THIS present darkness. This one here, up close and personal. Not “that” one, way over there, far away, staying at bay.

PRESENT. As in present, not absent. It is here and accounted for. It is not missing in action, on leave, or excused. It is PRESENT. It is also PRESENT. As in present tense, not past or future tense (although it was present then and will be until the end). It is PRESENT. Right here and right now.

DARKNESS. As in pure evil. Vile. I think there’s a reason evil and vile are made up of the same letters. It doesn’t matter how you try to change it, rearrange it, or explain it, evil is evil, vile is vile, and both are wicked and sick and lead to destruction and death.

I’ve been thinking about this present darkness quite a bit lately. I know that probably seems pretty morbid, but I think my mind goes there because this darkness is so evidently here. THIS DARKNESS is PRESENTLY PRESENT. Here and now. Not a thing of the past or a future threat. And it is trying to not only dim the Light, but to diminish it altogether.

Yes, the presence of darkness is all around us, and this present darkness is trying to confound us.

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