The Word in Reserve
And they made His grave with the wicked—
But with the rich at His death,
Because He had done no violence,
Nor was any deceit in His mouth. Isaiah 53:9
My attentiveness in normal, non-literary conversation is rarely admirable. I can boost it by sifting for words of above average quality and commending them out loud. I did this when a friend used the word facetious, and he said it came with an admission. In the military, that word allowed him to be respectful and disrespectful at the same time.
So often, we mine for those words and expressions which straddle respect and disrespect. We may use a refined word to express just a tinge of unrefined feeling. We may hit the right note with our phrasing, but role the eyes just a little to give vent to our true feelings, and maybe a hint to the embittered and sophisticated that we share their sense of irony.
We aren't, in truth, very good at occupying both columns in the expressions we convey. Readily, Pat Conroy admits in Beach Music, bitterness leaks all over our intended irony. I've seen in my own life in some particularly painful and instructive ways how much folly is contained in an effort to keep the face of grace, while reserving the snappy aside. Even keeping that snappy aside for my own consideration later tends to devour whatever impression I would make or legacy I would leave.
That's why I'm grateful for the righteousness of Christ on display in advance in Isaiah 53:9. He is integrity in the fullness of the word. He is oneness. There is no shadow of turning in Him. In particular, there is no gradation between the words in His mind and heart and the phrasing which He allows to pass His lips.
Deceit, which includes any word choices on anything that don't line up with Scripture, wasn't even in His mouth. I love you wasn't His public presentation while His private thoughts dripped with perpetual disdain.
The guard the lips for which Psalm 141:3 pleads was unnecessary with Christ. Out of the fullness of His great, pure, loving heart, His mouth spoke and speaks. He is the fulfillment of His own descriptor of verbal holiness in Luke 6:45.
No wonder His Word lasts. Complete, grace-filled sincerity is a wonderful preservative. It is a contrast with the norm of duplicity so sweet, says Isaiah, that even His oft blinded contemporaries you something was different about Him. Deserving by the iniquity he took on Himself a grave with the wicked, because of His words, His earthly contemporaries venerated Him with a grave with the rich.
What is the stolen, quickly spoiled sweetness of the unspoken mental put down compared with that inheritance? As we think on what He has spoken toward us, Christians, and means with every fiber of His being today, tomorrow, and forever, the shallow consolation of a snide reserve toward our fellow men will be less and less satisfying. We will align our words, spoken and unspoken, with His.
But with the rich at His death,
Because He had done no violence,
Nor was any deceit in His mouth. Isaiah 53:9
My attentiveness in normal, non-literary conversation is rarely admirable. I can boost it by sifting for words of above average quality and commending them out loud. I did this when a friend used the word facetious, and he said it came with an admission. In the military, that word allowed him to be respectful and disrespectful at the same time.
So often, we mine for those words and expressions which straddle respect and disrespect. We may use a refined word to express just a tinge of unrefined feeling. We may hit the right note with our phrasing, but role the eyes just a little to give vent to our true feelings, and maybe a hint to the embittered and sophisticated that we share their sense of irony.
We aren't, in truth, very good at occupying both columns in the expressions we convey. Readily, Pat Conroy admits in Beach Music, bitterness leaks all over our intended irony. I've seen in my own life in some particularly painful and instructive ways how much folly is contained in an effort to keep the face of grace, while reserving the snappy aside. Even keeping that snappy aside for my own consideration later tends to devour whatever impression I would make or legacy I would leave.
That's why I'm grateful for the righteousness of Christ on display in advance in Isaiah 53:9. He is integrity in the fullness of the word. He is oneness. There is no shadow of turning in Him. In particular, there is no gradation between the words in His mind and heart and the phrasing which He allows to pass His lips.
Deceit, which includes any word choices on anything that don't line up with Scripture, wasn't even in His mouth. I love you wasn't His public presentation while His private thoughts dripped with perpetual disdain.
The guard the lips for which Psalm 141:3 pleads was unnecessary with Christ. Out of the fullness of His great, pure, loving heart, His mouth spoke and speaks. He is the fulfillment of His own descriptor of verbal holiness in Luke 6:45.
No wonder His Word lasts. Complete, grace-filled sincerity is a wonderful preservative. It is a contrast with the norm of duplicity so sweet, says Isaiah, that even His oft blinded contemporaries you something was different about Him. Deserving by the iniquity he took on Himself a grave with the wicked, because of His words, His earthly contemporaries venerated Him with a grave with the rich.
What is the stolen, quickly spoiled sweetness of the unspoken mental put down compared with that inheritance? As we think on what He has spoken toward us, Christians, and means with every fiber of His being today, tomorrow, and forever, the shallow consolation of a snide reserve toward our fellow men will be less and less satisfying. We will align our words, spoken and unspoken, with His.
Comments
Post a Comment