1 Corinthians 2:4 And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power:

The gospel, the good news, is simple. It is meant to be simple because it is the cure for our ills. It is just that simple. If you take the cure, what does it matter what ails you?

What ails you is a more complex problem. You can boil it down to sin if you would like but sin is the symptom not the disease. All you have to do to understand that is to look at the simplicity of the gospel to understand that.

1 Corinthians 15:3-4 For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:

Christ died according to the promises made in the scriptures, He was buried according to the prophecies in the scriptures, He was resurrected as promised in the scriptures, and the purpose was for the forgiveness of sins.

Do the scriptures promise the end of sin in this life? No. Do the scriptures promise an end of sin infecting you again? No. It promised forgiveness of sin. It only treats the symptom and the disease is much more difficult to address.

2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

Simply saying I am forgiven is like taking aspirin for a fever. It reduces the fever but does nothing to cure what caused the fever. The problem is more complex than the fact that I sinned and I am forgiven. It is about a changed life.

What if you woke up tomorrow and had no memory of who you were, what you had done, or what you wanted? That would represent forgiveness, but what would prevent you from making the same mistakes you made in a prior life you do not remember?

Luke 4:32 And they were astonished at his doctrine: for his word was with power.

Yesterday I ended that devotional with an insinuation that words have power. It is but an insinuation. Yesterday I was talking about catch phrases, enticements, also known as lures, bait. You might not know you are being baited until the hook is set.

This practice has gone on for as long as writing has existed. Those who create those catch phrases, words of enticement know their prey. They know how to bait the hook. They understand human nature. In some cases it is rather simple and obvious. Those baits take on the words like sale, new, improved, better, faster, and you know exactly what to expect.

Other words are misleading and it is done with devious intent. Limited time offer, only 15 minutes remaining, sale ends soon and the intent is to create a sense of urgency which does not exist.

What are your power words?

Recently facebook showed me a montage of my most often used words. They were sized by usage, the bigger the word, the more I had used them. They were God, Jesus, Love, Faith, Relationship and lesser used words all related to my bible readings. Those might be my power words, but are they an effective lure? Do I hook my intended audience?

I realized that those words draw people who have fellowship with my Lord. They do not draw the lost because I refuse to use their power words. I find those words inappropriate and I do not wish to be associated with those words, no matter how acquainted I was with them before I came to Christ. I can use them in a face to face encounter where an exchange of ideas, experiences and solutions can be pondered. When it comes to this written word on a screen, I do not want those words to be used against my Lord. There is little if any time to correct misunderstandings. Clarity and simplicity is required in the written word.