The Ugliest Word in the English Language

Earlier this week, I spoke at an Academy chapel about what just might be the ugliest word in the English language. Students immediately began wondering what the word might be (while I’m sure teachers began wondering why Mr. Dunham was about to share it with them).

I did my best to build up their anticipation. “The ugliest word in the English language is…students, are you sure you’re ready?” Groans. “Okay, okay. The ugliest word in the English language is…teachers, I forgot to ask you, are you ready?” More groans, along with a few students pleading, “Mr. Dunham!”

Finally, I made good on my promise. “The ugliest word in the English language is…‘mine’.”

Silence. This was not the word they anticipated, yet they – even the youngest of them – seemed to understand, especially when I gave a few examples, saying the word as a two-year-old might:

• “What if a teacher said, ‘Today is mine, and I don’t feel like coming to school?’”

• “What if a parent said, ‘Today is mine, and I don’t feel like driving my child to school?’”

Each of these scenarios was, of course, hard for them to believe. But neither more so than this:

• “What if Jesus told His Father, ‘Today is mine, and I don’t feel like being born as a baby in a manger, living 33 years on Earth, and dying for people who don’t deserve it?’”

I then read Paul’s words from Philippians 2:4-11:

“Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

The students got it: “mine” becomes the ugliest word when we name what we have no intention of sharing. As I told the students, “mine” was never a word Megan and I had to teach our four girls when they were little; they seemed to have learned it…from us!

Thankfully, as Jesus always does, He redeems our selfishness through sacrifice…and calls us as His disciples to do the same.