If you knew how to spell “Laodicean” you could be 40,000 dollars richer. I know most of you are smiling because most of my friends have known this word since we were small. Week after week preachers have been chastising us for being Laodicean. “Laodicean” was the final championship word in the 82nd National Spelling Bee. The problem with winning the money is we would also have had to have known “xebec,” “menhir,” “phoresy,” “macenas” and many other words my computer tell me are misspellings because they are not even in the computer’s dictionary.
Usually I cannot write one of these daily devotionals without a misspelling. It was amazing to see these young people spelling words that make me feel most obtuse. However in addition to being able to spell “Laodicean,” I can also spell “salvation.” It is spelled J-e-s-u-s. I can also spell “forgiveness.” It is spelled J-e-s-u-s. I can spell “peace.’ It is spelled J-e-s-u-s. And yes I can spell “redemption.” It also is spelled J-e-s-u-s. That’s my spelling lesson for the night.
Just in case you have missed church on the weekends, the pastor has told us we were Laodicean. Please turn to the beginning of the Book of Revelation. There you will find a message for each of the seven churches of Asia Minor. They correspond not only to actual cities but to time periods in the history of the Christian Church. The last one, the period in which we live, is described as being lukewarm. One can easily see how easy it is for a pastor to make us feel very inadequate when using this passage.
By the way the word “macenas” means a generous benefactor. I found one. His name is spelled J-e-s-u-s.
Written by Roger Bothwell on May 28, 2009
Spring of Life Ministry, PO Box 124, St. Helena, CA 94574
rogerbothwell.org