Le/Re - The Prefix Says it All

Back when I was in high school, the French car company, Renault, made a very unique car. Actually, I take that back, it wasn't very unique. It was just a car. It looked similar to that of my 1978 Honda Civic. What made this car stand out, I guess, was that it was not just any old car, but the French company added a "Le" to the front of it. They made "Car" into "Le Car."

Perhaps the people who purchased and drove Le Car felt that they were experiencing the fullest extent of French living. In all honesty, I never owned or even drove a Le Car. I thought they looked funny.

What intrigued me most, was the prefix. I assume that Renault felt that it would stand out more with the "Le" in front of the name. The prefix said it all. It wasn't just another car. It was "Le Car."

I am not here to really blog about Le Car, but about prefixes. If you would like to know about Le Car, go here.

So if the prefix "Le" can change the uniqueness of a car, I wonder if there are more significant prefixes...

Wikipedia offers the following as samples:

• unhappy : un is a negative or antonymic prefix.
• prefix, preview : pre is a prefix, with the sense of before
• redo, review : re is a prefix meaning again.

I love the "re" prefix. Not so much the prefix itself, but rather how it radically changes words.

For instance, think of the word "new." At one time we were all new. When we were born, we were new. Now, on the other hand, we are not new. We are all getting older. We are losing our innocence. We are losing our strength. We are not new.

BUT

If you add the "re" in front of the word "new" something dramatic happens. What was once old becomes new again. RENEW.

Revelation 5:21 says, "And He who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.”

The good news is that God is renewing. Right now. He is renewing you. Sometimes you may not feel it, and somedays you may even doubt it. I assure you though, He who began a work in you is faithful to complete it. You are being renewed.

How about generating. For many of us our lives consisted of generating the wrong things. Sin. Rebellion. Angst. Hate.

BUT

When you add the prefix "re" in front of generating, you find a completely different meaning. REGENERATED.

Titus 3:5 says, "He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to His own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit."

Think of all the possibilities here:

1. restored/restoring
2. recreated/recreating
3. redeemed/redeeming
4. reconciled/reconciling
5. reformed/reforming
6. resurrection
7. relearning
8. recreating
9. replacing
10. revitalizing
11. reborn

Never forget my friends, what our Savior is doing in us. Psalm 65:5 says, "By awesome deeds you answer us with righteousness, O God of our salvation, the hope of all the ends of the earth and of the farthest seas."

Live in the freedom of the prefix today. It says it all.