Spelling Lessons

I am a notoriously bad speller.

Yes, I had to look up notoriously. You may wonder why a poor speller would become a writer. Well, I love words. I just am not very accurate in my spelling of them!

I love using words to convey truths about Jesus, the Bible, and faith, but in writing about these topics, I have encountered some real spelling difficulties.

Take Jesus, for example. I write about Him often because He has changed my life, but I never quite know what to do with the possessive form. Jesus had disciples. Do I write “Jesus’ disciples” or “Jesus’s disciples”? 

How about the past tense of the word “worship”? Two p’s? “Worshipped” or “Worshiped”? We worshipped looks better, but I doubt that second p. We worshiped looks like it should have a long i sound. 

My spellchecker also gives me trouble whenever I type “discipled,” “discipling,” or “will disciple.” Apparently, the dictionary would rather just leave that one as a noun and not try to turn it into the verb form. 

When Noah Webster was writing his Compendious Dictionary of the English Language, he had a lot of decisions to make regarding the correct spelling of the words. He considered the word’s origin, meaning, usage, and history, but in the end, Mr. Webster used his best judgment and gave his opinion on which spelling would be officially correct. 

I consulted Mr. Webster about my difficulties. You might be surprised, like I was, that both “Jesus’ disciples” and “Jesus’s disciples” are correct. “Worshipped” and “worshiped” are also both correct. And though it is considered archaic these days, discipling someone is still something that can be done.

What matters more than the spelling is that we do truly belong to Jesus. Am I Jesus’ disciple? Or Jesus’s disciple? The answer should be yes, not an argument over the semantics of apostrophes. 

Whether we have worshipped or worshiped doesn’t matter as much as the fact that we did indeed gather together to proclaim God’s goodness and exalt and thank Him for His works. 

If you are discipling someone, it doesn’t matter how you spell it. What matters is that you teach them sound doctrine and model it faithfully and not with hypocrisy. (Did I spell hypocrisy correctly?)

Some people have strong opinions about these spelling and grammar rules; however, legalistic opinions have no place in the actual meaning or carrying out of these words. 

This is true in religious writing, and it is also true in living a faithful life. Noah Webster wrote the book on spelling, but it was filled only with prior experience and opinion. God has written the book on right and wrong, and there isn’t room in there for our legalistic opinions. 

We must simply live faithfully as Jesus’s disciples, worshipping Him, and discipling others because He commanded us to. The good news is that He promised to be with us to the end of the age- no matter what our spelling ability looks like.