The Word Made Flesh

Words are powerful things. When we want to say something important, then we will often practise what we are going to say, wanting to get it right, to choose the right words to communicate clearly our meaning. Words are beautiful things, conveying meaning in powerful and subtle ways, conjuring up images for others to grasp and understand. The wrong words, or deliberately cutting words, can be as destructive as a hurricane.
The Holy Words of the Bible have been handed down, edited and translated by scholars for many years, from Aramaic and Hebrew and Greek and Latin, before getting to the English Language versions we know today.
Take just one verse of the Bible, John 1 v5, and compare the differences in the words used in three different Bible translations:
The Good News Bible says:
    “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has never put it out.”
Compare that to the King James Bible:
    “And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.”
And lastly, to The Message version:
    “The Life-Light blazed out of the darkness; the darkness couldn’t put it out.”

Three different ways of translating one verse of the Gospels. Three subtly different ways of hearing the Word of God. But only one truth. The truth of Jesus entering the world in flesh to come amongst us and Become our Saviour.
The Bible is a precious gift to us all, offering us the thoughts and words of God for us to learn from, to comfort us, and to give us hope and joy in our lives. All its translators have had one goal in common – to preserve the authority and infallibility of the Bible as God’s Word in written form. The Bible actually describes itself as “God-breathed”, which is so poetical!
When you read and contemplate the Holy Words of the Bible, whichever version you prefer, you are residing in the heart and mind of God, living in His world, seeking understanding, enjoying the freedom of being loved by God as you learn and grow in His presence.
But to be a Christian, it is not enough to read the Word of God. You have to obey it, and live it in action, too. We have to be “words within the Word”.
Just as Jesus was Word made Flesh, so too are we living in His likeness, when we act in His name and with the guidance of His Holy Spirit. Reading the Holy Words of Scripture will teach us and guide us. But only living our lives as God commands can open the gates of Heaven.
Righteousness of thought and word and deed. It’s a tough undertaking, but with the example of Jesus to follow, His Life-Light shining bright within us and around us, it becomes an uplifting and joyful, precious journey.

“Send forth your Word, Lord, and let there be light!”
(Shine, Jesus Shine, Graham Kendrick)