Creative Words are not Deceptive Words

God gave us words. In theory, he could have given us only pictograms and oral history. But he gave us the gift to be able to write things down, and in fact at times called people to write things down. He also gave us many ways to describe things, multiple words that can describe things in succinct ways. For example, today a woman at our church performed a song in Spanish and the English translation was provided on the wall. Howver, there was one word she admitted the English language had no exact equivalent for. The best she could do was to substitute with the word caresses due to a need for brevity on the screen, but the songwriter chose a specific word that the Spanish language has for a parent cupping a child's face in his or her hands and holding it upwards for a loving gaze. How wonderful that language can be so embracing. How wonderful to have language to express our love for Christ in written testimony, story, poetry, song lyrics, and more.

Words can also be arranged in various ways to express the same idea, but again how it is expressed can produce a completely different effect. The words, phrases, and sentences each of us choose reflects our own personal walk wih Christ and what makes our Christian voice unique.

However, to be true to the Lord, creative cannot be synonymous with deceptive. While we are free to be creative by expression, Christ does not encourage us to mislead in an way. Where the ability to be creative in our expression is a gift, to use it to twist the truth is not biblical.

"Therefore each of us must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor, for we are all members of one body." - Ephesians 4:25 (NIV)

New Self-Study Pamphlets Available

The latest self-study pamphlets for CREATIVE WORDS TO SPREAD THE WORD are now in the narthex area at Wilshire Avenue Community Church.

JOURNALING FOR CHRIST: Compares a prayer diary to a spiritual journal and the benefits of using a spiritual journal in the walk with Christ.

TESTIMONY IN WORDS: Whether it's one on one experience, part of a local ministry, or outreach mission - the impact of documenting Christian experiences for others can have impact.

These or any of the past pamphlets can also be directly requested and sent as a Word file.

Blessed writing!

Shannon