A Word of Beauty

"For beautiful words are, in a real and special sense, the light of thought."

Longinus was a First Century A.D. writer and he made the above comment in his technical treatise On the Sublime.

Although he was certainly referring to eloquence on the stage and on occasions of performance this is a truth that applies itself to almost every area of life. One has to know what one is saying and can't simply ramble about. Pastors so often abuse themselves with their knowledge of ancient languages and theological terms that they miss out on the beauty of words, and, as consequence, there thoughts shed no light on their audience.

Halford Luccock wrote, "The tragedy often is that the more a man studies, the worse he gets; his mind becomes subdued to what he works in, and the textbook style of language hardens on him like a shell. He becomes a literary and vocal crustacean. The preacher who is too busy to read poetry, fiction, drama and the naturalists is too busy. While he is busy here or there with Kant or John Dewey or Karl Barth or Karl Marx or other Olympians, the opportunity of speaking for God to people in their native tongue is gone."

Though this is true, we must learn the beautiful words around us, it does not mean that we need avoid learning of the beauty found in those ancient languages or the theological terms. We must. But above all words we must learn the Word.

Jesus Christ Himself came to Earth as the Word and He dwelt amongst us. It is now time for us to dwell in Him. We must permeate every corner and cranny of our life with His Word. His Word is not only Beautiful but it also serves as the best source of Light. It casts Light on our thoughts and will make our thoughts be Light-filled.