Big Powerful Words

Big words are scary for a lot of us.  Big words that have theological definitions can be even more frightening.  Of course, it is also true that the big theological words which are often launched from the pulpit are more likely heard and accepted as conveying some kind of truth without ever really understanding the truth.  When the Apostle Paul reached what we call the middle of the third chapter of his letter to the Romans, his pen must have surely gotten heavy for such are the words.    

The words which fill the page are big powerful words.  While some are no longer than five letters long, even these are big powerful words which often send our minds reeling in confusion.  The big powerful words of this section are "...righteousness...faith...justified...grace...redemption...atonement..."  (Romans 3:21-26)  A little digging may uncover a few more that are ready for discovery in those verses.  We have grown so accustomed to words like these big powerful words that we hear them without really thinking too much about what they mean.    

We do this because we figure we know what they mean because we have heard them used so much.  What is also true is that our understanding is usually based on what we have heard from others and not what we have come to understand and know for ourselves. Accepting at face value what others say is not nearly as good as taking the time to dig around with our own spade, figure out other possibilities, and allow our own unique relationship with the Holy Spirit to guide us into a knowing that speaks to the person we were created to be.