Wielding the Weapons of Pen and Tongue

Clarity of communication is an act of love. God created language when He spoke all things into existence in the Beginning. This detailed account is found in the book of Genesis. Language was a gift given to man in the Garden of Eden, but it also was a gift of responsibility requiring stewardship and thought. God assigned Adam to name the creatures. That took considerable time and certainly some thought and creativity. We know from the Genesis account there was one language and speech. (Genesis 11:1) The great rebellion and disobedience that occurred at the Tower of Babel did a number on unification, and God scattered the people thus confusing the speech. (v. 9) The people divided by groups and moved to various regions of the world as a result. It was impossible to understand each other. Making a name for themselves and building the idolatrous tower was contingent upon understanding each other. Working to understand language barriers has been no small feat since that time.

The history of language is fascinating. That in and of itself is a worthy subject of another writing, especially given that the English language was born primarily out of wars and invasions and belongs originally to the Germanic and Indo-European family of languages. Over 50% of our English vocabulary stems from Latin roots. We should love words for the gift they are to us from God, but also because of the rich history that has occurred to produce the story about how they survived and morphed to reach us in this present age.

Making up thousands of words, English is broken down into only eight categories which we call parts of speech. Eight represents new beginnings — a new order in creation. The number eight also signifies completion in that Christ was chosen as the sacrificial Lamb, (John 12:28-29) was crucified five days later, and then He resurrected three days after that. Counting inclusively of all these days from April 1-8, A.D., we see complete victory over death. Eight men penned the New Testament (Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, James, Peter, Jude, and Paul.) One Judge served eight years in Israel, the Fall Feast of Tabernacles lasted eight days, Abraham had eight sons, and Jesus even showed Himself eight times after his resurrection. These are but a few examples of the significance of that number. I do not think it a small coincidence that our parts of speech are comprised of eight parts.

Words are important to the Christian because this is the way God chose to reveal Himself to mankind. He chose to reveal Himself through the words of the Prophets and Apostles, and through His Son, the actual Word of God (or logos.) Christians should highly value the stewardship capacity of our words. The starting point for English is basic grammar and studying the rules of grammar. It is orderly. It is logical. It brings meaning to the written and spoken word, but it also helps us know God more and glorify Him as we influence the world for Christ.

As Christians, we are people of the Word. We are to love and appreciate words, writing, and reading. These are all tools and weapons given to us as gifts to help shape us into better warriors for Kingdom influence. Maybe we have not taken the time to think about this topic in this way. Words help us know God more, worship Him more, share Him more, and glorify Him more. It has often been said in academia that we do not know why we have rules to grammar other than the fact that through history, someone authoritatively and assertively insisted this is the way it would be. Could this authoritative assertion reflect the loud and unimaginable energy that must have occurred when God spoke into existence the sun, for example? Close your eyes for a moment to consider the Speed of Light. It is documented to equal 186,000 miles per second. That is the equivalent of 671 million miles per hour. The sun is also about 27 million degrees Fahrenheit.

Only God could open his mouth to speak a multi-elemental composition at these hard-to-imagine speeds and degrees! Think about the sun flying out of the mouth of God and into existence! Yet, we see that the spoken word is still orderly and that God is orderly. (1 Corinthians 14:33) We see this remarkable order carried out through all of Creation. God has a consistent pattern from His magnitude to His minuscule because He is faithful. He is the same yesterday, today, and forevermore. (Hebrews 13:8.) We may not always understand the order of God being that His ways and thoughts are higher. He is also not bound by time as we are. So sometimes, His ordained order of things can be confusing to us. He exists outside of time because He is the Creator of time, yet His order through His spoken Word helps us to be able to trust His Word.

Christians should take seriously their intended role to speak and write and the Holy purpose in it. We are given life-giving tools to honor and serve the Lord and lift mankind, made in His image, for such a time as this. But do get this encouragement: Language serves us. While it is true we must understand language and grammar rules to be good stewards of language, it should not hinder or stop us from writing or speaking out on behalf of objective Truth even if we are not writing experts or professional speakers. We need not become slaves to the rules of language. Language exists for us. We do not exist for Language. Language is a means to an end. We will not always be perfect communicators, but we should not shy away from speaking and writing because we do not know all the rules. We can work to learn the rules. We do not want to squander our role and the entrustment given to us to glorify God through these means.

Language helps us organize and communicate clearly and effectively the message we intend to communicate. This is quite crucial. How many times have you heard someone say, “I can’t help that they didn’t understand me. That’s their problem”? Or at least how many of you have heard some variant of that sentiment? Well, the blunt reality is that it is up to the communicator to effectively communicate the message they intended the hearer or reader to receive. Intent matters, but so does the precise execution of your intent.

As a child, hard lessons found me when I would get into significant trouble for being what my mother deemed “a smarty pants.” She would say to me that it did not matter what I thought I said or how I thought I said it, that if the receiver perceived me as disrespectful or smart aleck, then I was. End of story. She taught me personal responsibility and stewardship of the message I wanted to communicate. She said if I did not want to be perceived as disrespectful, I must communicate effectively and sharpen my delivery. Many years later, those lessons have helped shape who I am today as a speaker and writer. I am not perfect, as my children and husband will attest, but I am more effective with this life skill because of the Biblical precepts my mother taught me about communication and the stewardship of the tongue. We must own the responsibility of our message, and we must value the time we have been given to communicate it.

We must choose our words wisely. We must understand our own thoughts to convey them to others and be persuasive and winsome. We must be able to articulate and express our thoughts clearly and train our own minds to think orderly. Do not be overwhelmed at the process. Just start. Start to speak up. Start to write. Do not let fear hinder you from beginning the process of God moving and speaking in and through you. God took a shaking, self-conscious Moses and had him write the Ten Commandments. This Decalogue is the entire foundation of American Jurisprudence. It is the Higher Moral Law of God that shows us our sin and our need of the Savior. The Prophet Jeremiah had his scribe, Baruch, write down the messages from the Lord. With contempt, King Jehoiakim destroyed the scrolls. What did Jeremiah and Baruch do? Jeremiah listened to the Lord again. He spoke God’s Word again to his scribe. Baruch wrote again. This time, God gave them more to write! The Word of the Lord endures forever. (Isaiah 40:8.)

Our writings will never replace the Bible, but we are charged with godly stewardship before the Lord of all He has entrusted us with. Our gifts include the tongue, the spoken and written word, and our lives are to reflect the Truth of God and share His truths with others. Culture is perverting the spoken and written word. We need God’s people to combat the lies of the enemy and pray that as we speak and write, it will be a seed planted for years to come springing forth life.

Secular culture now is not much different than in any other period of history. Do you remember reading about the Holocaust book burnings? The destruction of the Pilgrim Press? The Prophet Jeremiah and his scribe Baruch’s scrolls that were burned multiple times? Those who wish to suppress and oppress and cancel the truth miss a major lesson: Truth always prevails. Choose today to be an instrument for sending out the message God has chosen for you to deliver. You will glorify God. You will further the Kingdom. We must leave a record for our generations to come. They must know where we stood during the time we were given.

So, what is your message to steward? Ask God today to show you the clear message He would have you deliver. The key is obedience to God. Grab a good pen, a fresh notepad (or your computer), and few friends to proofread! I look forward to journeying with you as we take on a renewed sense of Biblical language and the powerful, life-giving effect it can have in our circle of influence during these critical times as a nation and in our world. The best part is that your writing can reach more people than you ever could. You never know how and where it will travel and who it will minister to. Pens up, trust the Lord, and send it out. Onward!

Rebecca Chaney is the Director for Restore Liberty Mississippi, and she sits on the board for the Mississippi Freedom Caucus. She is a lifetime Patriot Academy Constitution Coach and has hosted Biblical Citizenship and Constitutional classes since 2020. She has helped to start these classes all across the state of Mississippi. She is a homeschool Mom of seven years to her son and daughter. You can read more of her work at https://substack.com/@rebeccachaney and www.restore-liberty.org