Beautiful, Wonderful Words of Life

According to Oxford University Press, 2025’s word of the year is “rage bait,” which Oxford defines as “online content deliberately designed to elicit anger or outrage by being frustrating, provocative or offensive, typically posted in order to increase traffic to or engagement with a particular web page or social media content.”

Last year’s word was “brain rot.” This term describes our brain’s deterioration when we overconsume trivial or unchallenging content (particularly online material). Oxford’s lexicographers and linguists use massive data bases to track new words and phrases that enter and influence our language and then determine the “word of the year.” 

God’s Word is full of wonderful, powerful words, but we must open it, read it, and apply it if we expect scriptures to benefit our lives. God’s Word certainly impacted Luke Johnson Durosky’s life.

The inmate at the Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman, a former gang member, serves as pastor of Near Life Experience Church inside the penitentiary.

“I was raised in church,” he shared. 

“It was while I was in that cell that I realized I needed to change. I called out to God and He answered me so clearly it scared me. There was a Bible in the cell, and I asked Him to show me a verse that would help me. I opened that Bible directly to 2 Corinthians 5:17, which reads, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”

Darosky said those words changed his life. He earned his GED while in solitary confinement, then received a college degree through New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. (The Baptist Paper, January 15, p. 10).

God’s Word is filled with potent, practical, timely words. What word do you need in your life today?

When you need encouragement, remember Psalm 23:1, “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.” 

When you are lonely, read Deuteronomy 31:8, “And the Lord, He is the One who goes before you. He will be with you, He will not leave you nor forsake you.”

When you are weary, hear Jesus’ invitation found in Matthew 11:28, “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”

When you are afraid, see Psalm 56:3, “Whenever I am afraid, I will trust in You,” or Psalm 34:4, “I sought the Lord, and He heard me, and delivered me from all my fears.”

When you have sinned, apply I John 1:9, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

When you feel stressed, see Jesus’ words in John 14:27, “Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”

When you need God’s peace, look to Isaiah 26:3, “You will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in You.”

When you need wisdom, recall James 1:5, “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.”

When you encounter discouragement, open to Psalm 55:22, “Cast your burden on the Lord, and He shall sustain you; He shall never permit the righteous to be moved (shaken).”

When you worry, remember what Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount and especially Matthew 6:25, “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?”

The end of John chapter 6 finds many of Jesus’ followers turning away and no longer walking with Him. Jesus asked His twelve disciples, “Do you also want to go away?”

Peter answered, “To whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life” (John 6:68). This response inspired songwriter Philip P. Bliss to write the hymn “Wonderful Words of Life” to emphasize the importance of God’s Word in daily life. The song opens, “Sing them over again to me, wonderful words of life.”

The chorus goes: “Beautiful words, wonderful words, wonderful words of life.” 

Let God’s beautiful, wonderful, powerful words fill your life today.(David L. Chancey lives in Fayetteville, GA, and serves as transitional pastor of Griffin Church, Griffin, GA. See more of his writings, including his books, at www.davidchancey.com).