I need an Editor

According to today’s entry in Truth for Today, one governmental study to regulate the price of cabbage ran more than 26,000 words. It reminds me of my grandfather’s terse comment when we didn’t listen and asked him to repeat something. He said that he didn’t like to “chew his cabbage twice.” That document must have contained a lot of cabbage chewing!

Along with this the author points out how God can summarize vital truth in a few words. In Matthew 22:37-39, Jesus offers the two greatest commandments in forty words, distilling the original ten written in less than three hundred words; “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

When I write anything, email or essay, short story or long, the result is often wordy. Editing is much harder work than plunking down the words. Making the piece concise and to the point takes skill and effort. Many writers struggle with this part of the process.

The Bible seems wordy in places too. However, we are commanded not to add anything to it, or remove a single word (Deuteronomy 4:2; 12:32; Proverbs 30:6; Jeremiah 26:2; Revelation 21:18-19). This is God’s message to us, His revelation of Himself. While I might not value the repetition of genealogies, some stories, and passages from the psalms, God has purpose in doing so, if only for emphasis.

A more important issue for me is not whether God “chews His cabbage twice” but that I pay attention, if not the first time I hear it, at least the second time. He says:

And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts; knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. (2 Peter 1:19-21)

The Bible authors did not write their own thoughts or under their own steam. I think of the process like a hand in a glove with the writers as the glove and the Spirit of God as the hand. When He motivated their hearts and minds, they wrote what He wanted to say. Their own style was preserved (even a glove leaves fingerprints), yet the thoughts and words are from God.

Besides listening, God should get the glory when I obey, but these verses tell me that I will also “do well” by following the light that He gives me. During the thirty-five plus years of being a Christian, I’ve discovered truth that illuminates my errors and ignorance, truth that changes the way I think and act. Unfortunately, many times God has had to repeat and repeat what He says. In my sinfulness I either don’t hear Him the first time, or am too busy doing my own thing and not paying attention. His goal is to transform me into the image of His Son. To become like Jesus, I need to heed His Word.

This is practical. Every day brings the challenges of priorities. A long to-do list, unexpected interruptions and opportunities, requests from others, and so on, make demands on my time and energy. No matter how much I would like to say or do, words and actions are limited by a 24-hour day. If my life is going to be like the life of Christ, I need to learn much more about editing, and who better to learn from than the Master!