God Isn’t in the Words
I’m a singer. I’m a songwriter. I love to lead worship and help people encounter the presence of God.
I’m a preacher. I’m a teacher. I love to convey and communicate timeless truths in stirring and interesting ways.
I’m a writer. I’m a blogger. I love to craft words to encourage, inspire, or motivate someone to act or contemplate things differently.
The deception that comes to play on pride, ego, or whatever you want to call it is that God is somehow in the words because then you can love the words and your cleverness in crafting them.
Brennan Manning talked about it this way,
Slavish attention to precise and proper words can seduce the author into a certain kind of posturing. The danger of elegant accomplishment besets every artist.
I don’t serve the music, the spoken word, or the written word. Never can those things love me, bring healing or freedom to me. Styles and means can become their own gods, but we can’t let it flourish.
I am invited to engage with the God who is transcendent. The One who is completely “other than.” The One who alone is holy.
Another thought from Mr. Manning,
Von Balthasar’s credo rings true to me: “Love alone is credible.” The real God of unrestricted love corresponds to the Jesus of my journey.
I do love words and expressing them well, but ultimately they fall always fall short because “love alone is credible.”
God doesn’t dwell in words and the cleverness of men. He is love, and the expression of that is beyond comprehension and ability to reason away.
What do you think? Do you relegate God to things like words? What else would you add to this?
Welcome to week 2 of our book club discussion of the Furious Longing of God (disclosure) by Brennan Manning. We are taking a sentence, paragraph, or passage that inspires, encourages, or challenges and writing about it. If you have a response on your blog, add it to the widget below. Either way, head over to my friend and co-facilitator, Sarah Salter’s blog for her thoughts. Whether you’ve read the chapter or not, please dive into the conversation!
This reminds of a song, maybe it’s a hymn, and some of the words are this:
Could we with ink the ocean fill,
And were the skies of parchment made,
Were every stalk on earth a quill,
And every man a scribe by trade;
To write the love of God above
Would drain the ocean dry;
Nor could the scroll contain the whole,
Though stretched from sky to sky.
God Himself is love. He indeed is indescribable.
Thomas Mason recently posted..Paradoxes and Contradictions
wow…great song…gotta check that out..
Arny recently posted..Top 5 Tuesday: Sports
I agree. I’m blown away! Thanks Arny.
Yes! Those are powerful words. Reminds me of a MercyMe song too: we cannot say enough about You. We’ll never be able to fully describe Him, but we can’t stop at the superficial. Must press into the deep! Thanks Thomas.
I read this chapter a few times and read that portion a few times each time just to let it sink in. I actually almost wrote about it as well. The gifts we are given can blind us from the Giver if we allow them to be our focus. Manning did a good job of pointing out this danger but also pointed out the hope of not falling into it. Good stuff Jason!
Philip recently posted..A Believer Who Doubts
Exactly. We can believe our own hype and fall into the trap of pride. He showed the way of humility. It’s not glamorous, but it is glorious. Thanks Philip.
Words do not suffice to convey the One who loves us so. Words flow from the relationship, but they can never replace the True Love that not only reaches out for us, but dwells within us.
Words are not the ends nor the means.
God’s love is.
Dusty Rayburn recently posted..More Than Intimacy
That’s it. Words play a part, but they aren’t the star of the show (so to speak). They serve a purpose, but can’t bring the whole picture into focus. His love is just too big. Thank you, Dusty.
As a songwriter myself…and a preacher…and a blogger…lol…i go through the same emotions myself…
end the end…when i go back to a song i wrote…it’s like the revelation comes…
I did that?…nope…HE DID.
Arny recently posted..Top 5 Tuesday: Sports
Yep. Totally get what you’re saying! Thanks Arny.
What comes to my mind is: “In the beginning was the Word. And the Word was God… And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.”
And only God is strong enough to make Word become flesh.
You know, you’re talking about WHO you are here. But WHO we are means nothing, if we don’t have love. (1 Corinthians 13)
You’ve given us much to think about, Jason. Thanks!
The eternal Word--so true! Not spoken by human wisdom or understanding, but eternally true and pure. And even what you’re saying reminds me that we can use identifiers to talk about facets of ourselves, but no identifier will encompass the whole. Without love, it’s meaningless. Without His divine love, we’ll never make sense of it. Thanks Sarah.
I touched on this today as well. We get so full of ourselves that we’re running on empty and our words come back void.
I couldn’t agree more about the words becoming our god’s…
I’m still waiting for my book to arrive! I’ll catch up!
I just hate that it seems to be so easy to get sidetracked and want to worship our words about Him instead of experiencing the deeper, living truth of Him. Still, so glad He’s patient and loving with us. He redirects and brings us back around in amazing ways. And no worries, I know you’ll catch up--they’re short chapters.
Thank you, Floyd.
God is love…mere words fail to actually convey that. Even the most beautiful acts of love fall short of the love God has for us. And yet, we try to explain it…sometimes we just need to accept it and bask in it. His love is pure, it is beautiful and it is holy.
Absolutely. I don’t think we should stop trying to convey, show, illustrate, talk about, etc. His amazing love, but we should accept that everything falls short. I like your word, “bask” in it. That is a good place to be--a place He invites us to be. Thanks TC.
The fight with pride is endless
Thankful am I indeed that the Holy Spirit speaks boldly, waking me up to the pride in my own heart… as a writer, a wife, a member of His body
HisFireFly recently posted..all of me
Definitely. Thank you, Karin.
“I don’t serve the music… Never can those things love me…” you hit on one of the wonders of creation: God created us and loves us and we are not just mere things, we can love and serve in return! Oh how awesome is the love of God that he gives us that precious gift! It is impossible for us to create anything that can do the same
Frank recently posted..Furry or Fury?
Very true! Thank you, Frank.