I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the Lord. They will be my people, and I will be their God, for they will return to me with all their heart. (Jeremiah 24:7)
Did you see that Merriam-Webster added words to the dictionary? Among them is “LOOKSMAXXING,” which means taking one or more extreme or dangerous measures intended to increase one’s physical attractiveness.
And then there’s “SUNDAY SCARIES,” defined as the feelings of anxiety or sadness that come from knowing that the weekend is almost over.
It got me thinking about obscure and quirky golf terms. BARKIE: Hitting a tree with your shot and still managing to make par. HOSEL ROCKET: Another name for a severe shank, caused by hitting the ball off the metal neck of the club. DEAD SHEEP: A situation where your putt is still farthest from the cup after you have already putted. (Still EWE!)
Ever experienced the FRIED EGG—a ball half-buried in a bunker? If someone says you’re on the FROG HAIR, it means the tightly mowed strip of grass that forms the fringe surrounding the green. I’m often in the CABBAGE, that thick, high rough that swallows golf balls and makes getting back to the fairway very tough.
Biblical words are also frequently misunderstood, sometimes because of shifting definitions over hundreds of years, archaic phrasing in older translations, or the loss of the original cultural context.
For example, QUICK is commonly mistaken to mean fast or speedy. In passages like “the quick and the dead,” it actually means “alive.” LET means “allow” in our day, but in old biblical English, it often meant “to hinder or prevent.”
Understanding a biblical definition might change the way you view God and how you live your Christian life. PROPITIATION is an intimidating term that refers to satisfying the demands of justice or turning away wrath. “…being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood…” (Romans 3:24–25)
SANCTIFICATION is often confused with salvation. Salvation is a one-time deliverance, whereas sanctification is the gradual, continuous process of growing more into the image of Christ. “May the God of peace sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless until our Lord Jesus Christ returns.” (1 Thessalonians 5:23)
BLASPHEMY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT, in its theological context, is not a slip of the tongue but a continuous, willful rejection of God’s grace and truth. “And so I tell you, every kind of sin and slander can be forgiven, but blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven.” (Matthew 12:31)
To HARDEN YOUR HEART is to develop a stubborn, spiritual insensitivity and refuse to listen, obey, or respond to God. In the Bible, the heart is not just about emotions. It is the control center of your mind, will, and choices. It is where you decide to believe or reject God’s truth. “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.” (Hebrews 4:7)
A heart gets hardened every time you ignore a moral or spiritual conviction, so that your conscience grows slightly duller. Refusing to submit to God’s authority makes a person resistant to His grace.
My advice is to do an honest self-examination. Name the specific areas where you have grown numb, bitter, or defensive. Look for hidden pride, unconfessed sin, or deep-seated resentment that caused you to build up walls. Ask God to reveal blind spots in your attitude, using the prayer of King David: “Search me, God, and know my heart.” (Psalm 139:23)
REPENTANCE is a directional change. It means walking away from the behaviors and thoughts that hardened your heart in the first place. Be sure to receive God’s grace so that guilt and shame don’t harden your heart again.
Prayer: Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right, persevering, and steadfast spirit within me.