Daily Devotionals

Truths to Live By - One Day at a Time

Devotional: August 21st

“…I would rather speak five words that can be understood, in order to teach others, than speak thousands of words in strange tongues.” (TEV)

The subject here, of course, is the use of tongues without interpretation in the meetings of the church. Paul is opposed to the practice. He insists that what is spoken must be intelligible, otherwise no one is edified.

But the verse can be applied in a broader sense. When we speak, we should speak loudly enough for everyone to hear, otherwise we might just as well be speaking in a foreign language. In almost every audience there are people who are hard of hearing. It is a great trial to them when a speaker’s voice is so soft that they miss the train of thought. Because love thinks of others, not self, it speaks with sufficient volume for all to hear.

Love also uses words that are simple enough for the average person to understand. We have a great message—the greatest message in all the world. It is important that people hear and understand the message. If we use involved, obscure, technical jargon, we defeat our own purpose.

A preacher went to the Far East to minister to the people, using an interpreter, of course. The first sentence of his message was, “All thought may be divided into two categories—concrete and abstract.” Looking down at the audience of toothless grandmothers and restless children, the interpreter translated it as, “I have come all the way from America to tell you about the Lord Jesus/’ From that point on, it is said, the message was firmly in the hands of the angels.

In a recent issue of a Christian magazine, I came across such expressions as: normative datum of a trans-historical category; work that is not eclectic but that has existential relevance; a vertical continuum of consciousness; the canonical language of affirmation; classical causality at the extreme limits of measurement. Pity the poor people who are asked to wade through such religious gobbledegook! Spare us all from those who have a ponderous way of saying nothing in infinite sentences!

We hear that the average TV or radio program is beamed at those with a third-grade education. That should be a cue to Christians who want to reach the world with the message of redemption. We should “make the message clear and plain: CHRIST RECEIVETH SINFUL MEN.” Better to speak five words and be understood than 10,000 words in a language no one can understand.