Whatever!

Words grow and change over time like children, stretching the skin they’re in, filling out and maturing. Sometimes they seem to contradict themselves but they must stay true to their essence or they are forgotten and used no more; outdated, deleted, spent.

We are limited by our language at times so we devise words that round out what we cannot adequately express. Whatever is one, meaning “anything or nothing” all at once. Like “So?” Whatever! reeks of attitude. It’s a walking away response that implies I’m so done with this conversation! Yet on the flip side, it is accommodating and kind. Whatever you need, just ask! I’m there for you no matter what! We need both.

The wisest man to ever live said, “For everything there is a season…” (including) “A time to be quiet and a time to speak.”

Ecclesiastes 3:1, 7 NLT

https://www.bible.com/116/ecc.3.1,7.nlt Sometimes the trick is knowing the difference!

Why is it so much easier to blurt out the things we shouldn’t while choking on things that need to be said? I feel like the apostle Paul knew the answer.

“So the trouble is not with the law, for it is spiritual and good. The trouble is with me, for I am all too human, a slave to sin. I don’t really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don’t do it. Instead, I do what I hate.

I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway.”

Romans 7:14-15, 19 NLT

https://www.bible.com/116/rom.7.14-15,19.nlt

Paul concluded that we are helpless when left to our own devices. In our finiteness, our “whatever” in exasperation is the best we can do! “Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord!” (v.25)

We tried to paint over wallpaper in our first home. After trying to strip the putrid floral from the master bedroom wall behind the door, we discovered that the walls had not been primed before the paper was applied. Removing the paper was removing layers of sheetrock resulting in a dusty uneven mess! Instead, we purchased a can of Kilz and went to work painting over the wallpaper. For awhile it worked until the sultry summer humidity and the steam from the shower began to show our mistake. Seams began to lift and the underlying pattern peeked through. What seemed to be the best solution turned into more than we’d bargained for, and in the end, we failed to hide the ugliness underneath!

Jesus taught that “whatever is in your heart determines what you say.” (Matthew 12:34 NLT) But Jeremiah wrote that “the human heart is the most deceitful of all things. (17:9) So I find myself in the same position as Paul! What ever am I to do?

The Bible gives the answer in full, but here’s a very good place to start!

“Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.”

Philippians 4:8 NIV

https://www.bible.com/111/php.4.8.niv

“And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father.”

Colossians 3:17 NLT

https://www.bible.com/116/col.3.17.nlt

Word searches in the Bible produce fruit every time! And like wallpaper, if properly applied, the result is beautiful!

“Whatever is good and perfect is a gift coming down to us from God our Father, who created all the lights in the heavens. He never changes or casts a shifting shadow.”

James 1:17 NLT

https://www.bible.com/116/jas.1.17.nlt