5 Words

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+28:20&version=NIV1984

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Joshua+1:5&version=NIV1984

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Hebrews+13:5&version=NIV1984

Words.  We say and use them all the time.  To make sentences.  Usually a sentence needs to contain a certain number of words in order to communicate a thought.  That number could be anything.  Generally speaking, a sentence needs at least 5 or 6 words.  That’s if every word is carefully chosen and conveys the thought correctly.  Otherwise more words are needed.  There are times, however, when too many words can muddle the thought.  Sometimes brevity is, indeed, blessed.

So lately I did a little research on the Internet to find what are the most important words.  In 6 words or less.  As you can imagine, these so-called ‘important' words vary greatly, depending upon the thought and the person who selects the words.  In my research I did run into a couple of neat expressions of words.  From the world of business we have the following:

          The 6 most important words: “I admit that I was wrong!”

          The 5 most important words: “You did a great job.”

          The 4 most important words: “What do you think?”
          The 3 most important words: “May I help?”
          The 2 most important words: “Thank You!”
          The most important word: “We.”
          The least important word: “I”

Then there is the play on words that I found listed below:
          There's only 1 thing, 2 do, 3 words, 4 you, I LOVE YOU :)

Of course, there are other variations of the most important words.  One that I prefer is:

          The 3 most important words: “I love you”
          The 2 most important words: “I’m sorry” or “thank you”   (equally important)
          The most important word: “Please”    (Of course “Yes” or “No” could also apply, depending upon the circumstances.

But what I want to focus on is 5 words that I read in a devotional a couple days ago: I am with You always.  Hopefully you recognize these words.  They are from the lips of Jesus in Matthew 28:20.  The situation is that He has been crucified and risen again.  He has been with His disciples and now He is going away.  To Heaven.  He will no longer physically be with them as He was for the past 3+ years.  This is going to take quite an adjustment on their part.  If you’ve ever had a loved one move away, or lost one to death, then you know the kind of adjustment that is needed.  Before He left, Jesus said these 5 words to His disciples as a means of comforting them.  And providing them with assurance.  In the future, as the disciples eventually scattered across the Roman Empire, no doubt they remembered these last words of Jesus.  And they did, indeed, bring them comfort and assurance.  These words are no less important to us today.

There are times when we feel alone in the world.  We can be physically alone.  Or we can be emotionally alone.  There are times when the world seems dark.  Evil.  Foreboding.  The thought that we are going through it alone, or in our own strength, can be very frightening.  And discouraging.  It is at times such as these that we need to remember these 5 words of Jesus: I am with you always.  What a wonderful promise!  In our times of doubt, Jesus is with us.  In those times when fear threatens to overwhelm us, Jesus is with us.  In those days when God seems so far away, Jesus is with us.  The fact is that no matter where we go, or what we do, Jesus is with us.  Always!

Lord, I am so thankful for Your words to me:  I am with you always.  What an encouragement they are to me.  How comforting.  And assuring.  May I always remember these words.  In good times.  And bad.  For they are some of the dearest words that I know.  In Jesus' name, Amen.