Four-letter Word

As seen in the HEARTbeat and tthe Village Voice

“Four-letter Word”

            “Back in the day….” (I’ll let you set your own time period) we didn’t hear the “four-letter” words in the home, much less in public.  On the television, editors were careful to delete any suggestive or offensive language from the scripts.  Even on live TV, the broadcasts were delayed a few seconds so as to allow for people with the “bleep” button to be pressed and cover up the expletive, or commonly called the “four-letter” word.  The Federal Communications Commission, or the FCC, took a strict stance on offensive language use on public broadcasting systems.

            I’m not sure when the tide changed, but just turn on the TV, the radio, or other public broadcasting device and you will hear all kinds of four-letter words.  It all seems commonplace.  It began with the Motion Picture Rating system putting different ratings on movies dependent on their age-appropriateness.  But now you almost need a dictionary to tell what all the different ratings mean, from TV-Y (all children) to TV-MA (mature audiences only).  And let’s not forget the add-on qualifiers such as L (language), V (violence), N (nudity), etc.  It appears that since you’ve been forewarned, the TV and film industry can get away with just about anything being said or presented.

            Just look in the news every day and you’ll see another four-letter word has made its way into the public forum.  The word itself is not used as a noun, as in, “I hate you” as much as it is used as a verb, an action word.  I’ve pondered this rise of hate lately but can’t seem to come up with a logical answer, so I looked between the covers of God’s Holy Word.

            People today and throughout history are searching.  When they don’t find what they want, or what they expect, they get uneasy, and that’s just the beginning.  Uneasiness gives way to anxiousness, which leads to frustration.  Prolonged frustration gives rise to anger and hate.  Today what we see is frustration in this world.  We see anger in this world.  People don’t want to understand other people because it takes accepting them.  The world is so self-centered it seems to hate everything other than themselves, and I even question that.

            Jesus, in answering the Pharisees, gave the two greatest commandments of all.  The second is, “Love your neighbor as yourself.”  See the word “as”?  If we hate our neighbors, what does that say about how we feel about ourselves?  I think there is a lot of self-hate going on in the world today.

            There is an emptiness we all feel, we all have.  We were created with an emptiness inside.  We as humans search for anything to fill that void, but nothing this world has to offer fits.  The only thing to fit it perfectly, for which it was designed, is the Holy Spirit.  This void is the “Inner-most holy place” scripture talks about, and it can only be filled by God the Holy Spirit.

            Let’s replace the four-letter word of “hate” with one of “hope.”  God is the God of hope.  Look to Him today for the perfect hope only He can give.