The Greatest Word in the English Language

Seeing the title I'm sure you're thinking of something along the lines of "love" or "hate" or even "fear" or "evil".  But in my recent studies of the Bible for my kindergarten class in AWANA, I've noticed a pattern.  It's actually been there the whole time, but I should say that God recently opened my eyes to it.  I shouldn't be surprised.  It's what He does after all; open our eyes to a new lesson inside of a passage we may have read a hundred times.  That's why we say that the Bible is the "living" word of God.  Because it is ever changing and never changing at the same time.  Enough background, drum roll please.  The greatest word in the English language (and probably every other language, as well) is......BUT.

Disappointed?  Let down?  Or did you guess it?  Don't feel bad.  It is a very small word.  Technically, just a conjunction used to connect bigger, more complicated words together to form a longer sentence.  It's not even the only conjunction out there.  But (see?) it is that precise function that makes it so powerful.  I'll put down a few of the verses I was studying when it hit me.  See if you can find the pattern, too.

Genesis 2:20 - BUT for Adam, no suitable helper was found. (NIV)
Genesis 6:8 - BUT Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord. (NIV)
Genesis 50:20 - As for you, you meant evil against me, BUT God meant it for good... (NIV)
Psalm 73:26 - My flesh and my heart may fail, BUT God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

And in my opinion the greatest "but" of them all:

John 3:16-17 - For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son that whosoever believes in Him, shall not perish BUT have everlasting life.  For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world BUT that the world through Him might be saved.

See the pattern?  The word "but" is so important that it occurs over 1000 times in the Old Testament alone!  Have you figured out why it is so important yet?  It's right there in the pattern.

The word "but" is a conjunction used to connect two smaller ideas together.  In the Bible, it is usually used in the following way:
You have fallen short of the glory of God, BUT He is merciful and faithful to save you from yourself.

Pretty amazing right?  Such a small word for such a big promise.  The Bible is very clear in that every human, including Paul, Moses, and even Abraham, will fall short of God's glory and standards.  If you don't believe that, just look around you.  The evidence of man's fallibility is everywhere in our culture; a culture of excess, greed, and selfishness.

BUT, (see my pattern now) God knows this, knew this when he created Adam and Eve.  He never, never planned on letting us go it alone.  He knew we would fall, knew we would need help getting back up, and knew we wouldn't deserve the help.  So in the Old Testament He sent judges, spiritual leaders such as Saul, David, and Solomon, and prophets to help lead Israel out of their sin.  When that didn't work, He chose to send the ultimate Help, Jesus Christ.  Of course, this leads into the whole free will vs. predestination (or fate) debate.  I'm no theologian, but this is how my tiny brain makes sense of a very difficult idea.

If God is our Heavenly Father, then the closest picture we have of this on Earth is our human fathers.  Hopefully, you have a good one either by blood or choice so you can understand what I'm referring to next.  Just like a good, dedicated, loving human father knows his children, to the point of knowing what choice they will make in certain matters, he also hopes they will surprise him and make the better choice.  Let me clarify with an example:  my husband knows how much my oldest loves sugar.  We all know.  If we were to leave him at home for the day with instructions to eat only protein and vegetables, but we did not remove the oreos from the pantry, we know that some will be missing when we get home later.  We know my son will choose the oreos even though he knows they are bad for him.  But, we hope that he will eventually mature and learn from his previous consequences, and choose to bypass that temptation.

In the same way, on a much higher scale, God looks at us.  Although He knows what we will choose because of His omniscience, He continues to hope that we will eventually turn from our temptations and choose Him instead.

Moving on from that sensitive subject.

The word "but" is very powerful.  I hope you start to notice it now when you study your Bible.  Notice that it usually follows a condemnation from God then precedes a glorious promise from God.  Notice that we never deserve the promise.  Notice that we don't seem to learn from our behavior.  And notice how that doesn't change God's steadfastness.  He continues to help the people in the Bible just as He continues to help us today.

And I will leave you with one final verse that I feel sums it up for me, and pray that God will use this revelation in your life as He has in mine.

Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, BUT the gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ.

Amen.