Words are very important. Words can be strung together in such a way that they can encourage, motivate, entertain, or simply just inform others. I love words. On my ipad, I have no less than 6 applications that have to do with word games, and I have one on my cell phone. My wife and I play Scrabble so much, that when we play with friends, we are constantly being challenged as to the validity of a word because it's a rare word, or a strange use of a 'q' without a 'u' following it (and yes, there are several!). We use words every day - they are pretty important!
We get excited when our little children begin saying words that seemingly only their parents can understand, but they are still words to them! We get excited when our children move on to correctly conjugating sentences and utilizing proper tense in their various verb usages, and even employing the proper article at the proper location (please don't tell me I am the only one who gets excited about this...). Words are the very life blood of society, and without them we would be completely confounded and unable to communicate intelligently.
This morning, I want to talk about the word "ish". In Hebrew, ish means man, but that has nothing to do with the blog today. Ish is that little suffix that we tack on to a word when we don't want to be specific about something:
"I'll be to your house about 6-ish..."
"That meal only has about 1200-ish calories..."
"We drove about 500-ish miles today..."
The little ending 'ish' completely negates the specificity of the word it's attached to. Arriving at my house at 6-ish for a dinner that you were invited to at 6 makes you late; however, an 'ish' on the end seems to magically cover your lateness! Many diets have been destroyed because of 'ish' calories!
If we transfer this to practical Christianity, the question this morning is, Are you a Christian, or are you an Ish-tian? One of them is the real deal, completely authentic, and genuinely devoted to the things of the Lord. The other is the one that has a convenient Christianity. Church doesn't interfere with their busy schedule because it's the first thing to go. Their Bible stays in the car because they'll need it next Easter when they go to church. They throw out Christian words when they need to, but forget them in the 'real life' situations. You know these people, and I know these people. Let's do our best not to be these people!
The question for you today: Are you a Christian, or are you an Ish-tian?
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