Monday, March 12, 2012

Onomatopoeia

“People thought evil, imagined evil- evil, evil, evil from morning to night. God was sorry that he had made the human race in the first place; it broke his heart.” Genesis 6:5b-6 (MSG)

Growing my vocabulary has been a continual part of my educational endeavor. When I come across a new word, not a neologism, I write the word with the definition on an index card that I review until the word is embedded in mind. A few weeks ago, a new word that I encountered was onomatopoeia. Onomatopoeia is defined as “word that imitates the sound it represents”. A few examples are zip, gush, drip, splash, and kerplunk.

As I was pondering onomatopoeia and its meaning, I thought of the word sin. Sin is like it sounds; dirty, nasty, ugly and yet, none of these adjectives nor the true meaning of sin can really be defined and sound like it truly is. Sin breaks the heart of God. Its cost is more than we can pay, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23). The cost of sin is Grace: God’s riches at Christ’s expense. Grace- it sounds like something that cannot be purchased, something hard to truly grasp, a beauty in it that defies description. God is grace, of grace and grace comes only through Jesus Christ (John 1:17). I do not really think grace sounds like what it is, for true grace cannot be heard; only known.

Does sin make your ears hurt? Do you know grace? You can. I John 1:9 tells us that “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” From evil to forgiven, from experiencing sin to experience grace has been paid for us by Christ; all we need to do is to be truly repentant and then accept what is freely given (Romans 3:24). What word do you want your life to sound like today?



Digging deeper: Isaiah 63:9-10; Ephesians 4:30; Psalm 11:5, 7: Micah 7:18-19; Titus 2:11; Ephesians 1:7