I’ve been wearing this little necklace for three years now. Some kind and generous women, who had them made for their own Bible study group, brought one to me at a conference. I fell in love with it at first sight and new it would be a staple in my wardrobe. Not only because I’m a sucker for cute jewelry but because the inscription has become one of my favorite Biblical principles of all time.
Beyond, Beyond
It’s a lesson learned from one of my favorite Bible verses – Ephesians 3:20-21. When Paul started assembling the words, he could barely find the right verbiage to communicate the grandness of God’s power. See him sitting there, his reedy pen poised in one hand over the parchment, the other hand pressed to his forehead, scanning his knowledge for every available word in the Greek language to get his point across. Maybe he tried one and then another. Writer’s block. No one word was good enough, not when standing alone all by itself. Even the most extravagant word couldn’t encapsulate all that he was trying to communicate. So it would need to be several words strung together then. Big words. Meaty words. Ordinary words just didn’t quite cut it. You can almost hear Paul tripping all over himself trying to explain the unexplainable.
Hyperekperissou hyper
And it’s that tiny prefix – that Paul tacked on twice in this phrase – that made all the difference in the world. Look back and see if you can catch a glimpse of it in the Greek.
Hyper.
Let’s stop and think for a minute about what “hyper” can do.
Hyper can turn ordinary car headlight bulbs into hyper-white headlight bulbs, the kind that blind you in your rearview mirror and make you wish the car behind you would either hurry up and turn off or just pull around you.
It can turn normally active children into hyperactive children. And turn their mothers into ranting, raving lunatics. Or so I’ve heard. I couldn’t say for sure.
(Ahem.)
It can take the natural extension of your knee or elbow and hyperextend it, until you’re having to get an x-ray, a protective cast, and a few morning sessions of physical therapy.
So whenever “hyper” finds its way onto a word, it makes the original word bigger and grander, faster and stronger, deeper and more multi-dimensional than it was before. Takes it to a whole new level. Beyond.
Or – if you use it twice like Paul did – Beyond, Beyond. Way past what you would have already consider way past.
That is what God can do – not just what you hope He will and not just beyond what you pray He might. He can do beyond your beyond.
Which is why I wear this pendant around my neck . . and why I finally decided that it would be neat to create one for you to wear around yours if you’d like to. (view in store)
This little piece will be a constant reminder of God’s capacity to do amazing things in your life every single day. And, as you read God is Able, my hope is that you’ll find both the book and this little pendant to be an encouragement in your life.
You are fiercely loved,
Priscilla
