Five Minute Friday: A Better Use of Words

“You’d better get your homework done!”

“She’s better than you.”

“I’m going to be the better person here and let that comment slide…”

Better. It’s a strange word when you stare at it too long. And it can so easily have negative connotations – threats, negative comparisons, and so on. The Israelites used it in their grumbling:

“Didn’t we say to you in Egypt, ‘Leave us alone; let us serve the Egyptians”? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert!’” (Exodus 14:12)

“Why is the Lord bringing us to this land only to let us fall by the sword? Our wives and children will be taken as plunder. Wouldn’t it be better for us to go back to Egypt?” (Numbers 14:3)

But better, as with so many words, can be used for praise, too. It’s not only negative. I love these verses from the Psalms that can fill our mind with worship and song:

“Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you” (Psalm 63:3).

“Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere; I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked” (Psalm 84:10).

When you speak today, what words will you utter, and for what use?

(I am taking part in the #fiveminutefriday community. To write your own and link up with the other writers, you can do so here.)