I write my devotions and sermons in the Microsoft Word application on my computer and then transfer them to other media. Word has both auto-correct spelling and grammar. Sometimes, I am thankful for the grammar correction, or the offering of a different, more appropriate word. Other times, it is annoying. For some reason, Word doesn’t like the word “actually”. Yesterday, as I wrote that we need to “actually possess the hope that the world needs,” Word rebelled. It underlined “actually” with little red dots and informed me that I should eliminate it.
At that moment, I decided to see if the word ‘actually’ had any occurrences in Scriptures. (My mind tends to work that way.) No occurrences in the KJV, although the New KJV had five. The NIV translators used the word eight times. I zeroed in on one. “And we also thank God continually because, when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but as it actually is, the word of God, which is at work in you who believe.” [1 Thess 2:13-14 NIV]
Merriam-Webster says that synonyms for “actually” are authentically, certifiably, genuinely, really, truly, veritably, very. The Greek Word is alethos, meaning truly, or as the NKJV translates it … but as it is in truth, the word of God.
When we open our Bibles, we are reading the actual, true, authentic, genuine Word of God. It is God speaking to us. Therein we find encouragement, hope, comfort, love, salvation, peace, “actually” everything we need for life. Can you discern Him at work in your heart as you read His “actual” Word?
