As I was finishing up a long, illustrious college career (199 total undergraduate hours…), I decided to add some English classes so that I could get an English endorsement on my teaching certificate. My last summer as an undergrad, I took two Shakespeare classes and a grammar class. In an effort to do as little work as possible, I wrote a paper that could be used for two different classes: grammar and Shakespeare’s Histories and Tragedies. In the paper, I showed how Shakespeare used grammar to transform Hal (Henry V) from a child to a man. Really, it was about how a boy talks differently from a man. I called it “The Grammatical Transformation of Shakespeare’s Hal. (GTOSH)”
Believe it or not, I had fun writing it; not only because I was doing the work of two classes in one, but because I love words. I rarely use a twenty-five cent word when a fifty cent word will do. I got an ‘A’ on the paper in both classes and one of the teachers even mentioned it in class. I don’t really remember the content of the paper, but I’m sure it was brilliant…
One of the things that God has been teaching me lately is how much of the Bible is made up of verbs, i.e. action words.
- Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations… Matthew 28:19a
- For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16
- Then he said to them all, “if anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily, and follow me.” Luke 9:23
- He who has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my father and I too will love him and show myself to him. John 14:21
Of course there are many more examples of verbs in the Bible, due to the fact that it’s hard to make up a sentence without them…but, putting all cynicism aside, do you see the Christian faith as one of action? There are many times when I get stuck in the mud of praying “God, what do you want? What should I do? Show me your will!” and I never DO anything. Like it or not, everything you and I do is in God’s name. Instead of praying “God, please help this person/me,” consider that maybe God wants YOU to take action in his name. Then do it.
