Love In Any Language

Maybe you've read 1 John chapter 1 a lot of times. Maybe you've been struck by the brilliance of God's Word when you weren't expecting it. Maybe you've been able to look at an "old" text with fresh eyes. Maybe you can allow me to guide you on a tour of this very thing happening for me...

Preparing to teach an ESL Bible study, I've begun to look much deeper into the simple grammar than I would need to for a study of my own. John begins 1 John and his Gospel in almost parallel ways! He feels the need to set a foundation: why write this? In 1 Jn, it's simple: we MUST proclaim what we have experienced. Even when translated to English, the grammar is quite telling... he moves from passive verbs in verse 1 to more active verbs and finally a power-verbs =)

1 John 1

The Word of Life

1That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. 2The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us.

Think about it. As an apostle, he began as a bystander/watcher and then an active seeker of the truth in all that was happening around him and finally, when he had experienced it all first hand, he saw no alternative but to actively testify and proclaim to everyone!

When he begins his gospel and his letter, John is adamant that we realize Who Christ really is and what God is truly wanting to accomplish. Jesus is the WORD (Jn 1). Words are the parts of language and language is simply the way of communicating. Have you considered what an amazing thing communication is?! Every word is bursting with meaning-- a symbol of SO MUCH MORE THAN a bunch of carefully penned lines and squiggles. Jesus was the same thing-- God's love in a WORD.

OK, just go with me on this... if you find yourself in the midst of a language you can't understand, it doesn't matter how great language is, because you're lost without a translater (take my word on this one =) We learn new languages to communicate effectively. God embodied a "language" to communicate to us.

While I grew up speaking English in America, it was no big deal. Expected. Normal. Not a privilege, just a way of life. Now I find myself in a land where this simple skill I never asked for is sought after and in high demand. Odd. Yet, I feel the same way in wanting to know how to communicate with my Korean neighbors-- they think nothing of their skill, but I'm desperate for it!

This is really no different than people who wander around our world without the saving knowledge of Christ. This world is a confusing place, with rules we can't understand, futures we can't see and we lack the capacity to understand all the signs around us-- our brains can't access the cosmic communication that surrounds us-- even if we know it's there! God is light, Christ was the light to the world, this light is able to make the hidden things visible.

If we have the opportunity to learn the language and live in the knowledge of the WORD who was God and the WORD Who IS God, then we better be lending our translating skills to the foreign travellers in this world who are wandering around the giant subway station of life looking at all the signs of God's love and salvation without understanding. I've been this person wandering around Seoul Station, feeling the helplessness that comes with a complete lack of ability to understand the communication. It's almost worse KNOWING that those signs on the wall would tell me exactly what I need to know if only I could decipher them!

Jesus is the Communication, God is the Communicator, we are the translators-- we MUST proclaim, testify and teach what we've been blessed to learn (some of us without even realizing the incredible privilege we have!)

So, as I encouraged my hi schoolers today.... look for the ways God has blessed you to communicate HIM today. Your mode of communication may be English, Korean, music, mime, hugs, or giving directions to the subway-- but whatever He has prepared you to do, you must know that even the "little things" are a big deal when it gives you the ability to speak God's love in someone else's language!

Go and let Him use you to "talk" to the wandering people around you! And if you ever see a foreigner wandering around with that confused look, just think, in another country, that could be you =)