A New Playlist (Part Five)-- Based on the book by Jacob Armstrong

This summer, we had a wonderful mission group from Texas that came and did VBS with the youth at the Children’s Home and Behavioral Hospital. As part of one of their illustrations, they had the kids squeeze all of the toothpaste from a tube, and then asked them to put it all back in. When the kids answered that they couldn’t, they shared about how we are unable to ever take words back. They then taught to the power of words, and how we need to use our words for good, and not harm.

                Words definitely have a power to make a person soar or feel awful, depending on how they are used. Additionally, words have a different sense of power when they are used to make things happen. The right words can make a couple married, make a kid a part of a new family, send a person to prison, or free them from a wrongful prison sentence. Words are how you find out you have cancer, how you know that it’s cured, or how you find out that your family is coming for a visit.

                Think about the volume of words that you give and receive in a day. Whether they are words you speak, type, or text, we give A LOT of words over the course of a day. (And somedays, according to my husband, I give too many!) According to research, we speak about 16,000 words a day, hear about 30,000 words, and spend 70-80% of our days in some form of communication. With all this time dedicated to the giving and receiving of words, we need to make sure that we are focusing on the right ones.

                The playlist (or in the case, vocabulary) of the world is very self-centered. People are just naturally drawn to lifting themselves up. We love to exaggerate, to brag, and to make sure everyone knows how great we are. Some of us even have it down to the art of the humble brag, where we let others know of our greatness while trying to hide the fact that we are doing just that. (Those people are normally not near as good at that skill as they think they are!)

                God’s playlist, however, is different. Isaiah 26:8 says, “Yes, Lord, walking in the way of your laws, we wait for you; your name and renown are the desire of our hearts.” Our job as followers of Christ is not to make ourselves famous, but to make the name of God famous.  God’s renown is to be the desire of our hearts. We should be in the business of speaking that name from when we arise in the morning until we fall in to bed exhausted at night.

                The wonderful thing about this name, this name that we are to ever be speaking, is that it has a power, too. It’s power, however, is so much more than the power of any other name. Scripture says that name of Jesus has the power to deliver us from evil, to give us salvation, to cause every knee to bow, and to grant us access to the Heavenly Father as we pray. It’s a power that we can’t fully explain or comprehend, yet we have the right as children of God to use this powerful name. Not only do we have the right, but we have the responsibility to say His name.

 How many times a day do you find yourself calling on the name of Jesus? I can’t help but think of the song by 7eventh Time Down, Just Say Jesus:

When you don’t know what to say
Just Say Jesus
There is power in the name
The Name of Jesus
If the words won’t come
Cause you’re too afraid to pray
Just Say Jesus

We can call on His name when we need protection, when we need healing, or when we want to tell others about how amazing He is. We can use His name to praise Him, to ask Him to meet our needs, or simply just call it out when we are overwhelmed and have no other words to say. Jesus is waiting on us to call His name. He deserves the renown, but we are the ones who will receive the blessing.