Lost Language
“If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.” John 15:19
It’s interesting that over seven thousand languages exist in the world today. Every two weeks, a language dies. Every two weeks a language that represents a culture and the existence of a particular people just vanishes.
The late German explorer, Alexander Van Hogan came across a parrot in a remote village that’s now known as Venezuela. The parrot was speaking in a language that he didn’t recognize but it was very evident that it was an intelligent language. After doing some research, he found out that the parrot was the last known living voice that was carrying the Artorez language. A whole culture of people had been wiped out and there were no dictionaries that held this language. The last language bearer of the existence of that people was a bird. The death of a language is not a trivial matter. The demise of a language is a terrible tragedy because that dialect represents the culture of a people.
Nehemiah 13:23-24 says, “In those days I also saw Jews who had married women of Ashdod, Ammon, and Moab. And half of their children spoke the language of Ashdod, and could not speak the language of Judah, but spoke according to the language of one or the other people.”
It’s interesting that as you read this passage you see that as people begin to lose their language, it is the sure sign that their values will also become extinct. We’re seeing the same thread being imposed upon our Christian reality today. There is a generation being raised that cannot speak the spiritual language that our forefathers spoke. They’re bi-lingual, but they’re speaking Christianity as a second language. And today’s culture is now their first language.
Gone is the language of the ancients – Abraham, Isaac, Jacob. Where is that language? We need to become fluent in the language of faith or we are at risk of raising up a generation that will not experience victory. It’s dangerous when this upcoming generation begins to speak half Bible and half secular humanism. When generations live half for Jesus and half for the world something precious is lost.
The 21st century church is in danger of releasing and raising up a generation of children who do not know God as our forefathers knew Him. They may never know the language of faith or understand the language of praise. They may never learn how to pray and travail until they pull down strongholds because this generation says, “All of that is not necessary. Just be kind and a good person.” Many have adopted the language of our culture without even realizing it.
The most common way a language veers toward extinction is a community of people become bi-lingual, and they begin to speak less and less in their native tongue. And when we begin to speak less and less the language of God, we begin to lose the foundation of who we are. Our faith in Jesus should be the center of our lives. We must not ever lose our first language!
Share
