The Power of One Word

by Beth K. Vogt

I don’t do New Year’s Resolutions.

Oh, sure, I’ve tried to resolve my way into a better me – usually failed before the month of January is over. I lose the list. Or I just lose the want-to, overwhelmed by all those numbered priorities. It’s as if I’m juggling a bunch of have-to's.

Anybody else relate?

Twelve years ago, I discovered the principle of One Word – choosing to focus on one word for an entire year. Consider this quote from the book My One Word by Mike Ashcraft and Rachel Olsen:

“ …words encapsulate ideas. They evoke our emotions. They hook into memories. They define our experiences—helping to shape us in the process.

There’s power in words. Beauty in words. Grace in words.

Words create movement. They craft nations. They seal a marriage. They cast vision. They make us laugh. They focus our attention. They expand our horizons. They stimulate our creativity. And they script our possibilities.”

As writers, we can all agree with that statement, can’t we? Words are powerful. Now consider the process of prayerfully choosing one word to focus on in 2017, allowing it to fuel personal and spiritual change in your life. Intrigued?

To further spark your imagination, here’s a recap of my previous One Words:

• 2006: gratitude - Keeping a gratitude journal revolutionized my “glass-half-empty” attitude.
• 2007: simplify - A severe illness changed this word to survival as I embraced simpler things in ways I never imagined.
• 2008: content - as in “be content with such things as you have” (Hebrews 13:5) I bought a lot less that year!
• 2009 & 2010: forgiveness - I had a lot to learn and unlearn about forgiveness.
• 2011: hope - There were times I could have asked “Why?” Instead, I asked myself, “Are you going to abandon hope?” My answer: No.
• 2012: trust - During a year of change, I faced doubting versus trusting -- and chose to trust. 
• 2013: confidence - I was so much stronger after keeping my heart and mind set on "not throwing away my confidence." (Hebrews 10:35-36) 
• 2014: think - I anchored my thoughts to truth more and more, rather than letting my thoughts go wandering.
• 2015: collaborate – This means to work jointly on an activity, especially to produce or create something. Synonyms: co-operate, join forces, team up, band together, work together, participate, combine, ally. As a writer, I focused on collaborating with God.
• 2016: prosper - to act wisely, as in "And David was acting wisely (prospering) in all his ways for the LORD was with him." (1 Samuel 18 14.) This word helped me make major decisions.

My word for 2017 surprised me: inheritance.

Psalm 16:5-6 (NIV) says: "Lord, you alone are my portion and my cup; you make my lot secure. The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance." 

At times I've talked negatively about my inheritance. Not the eternal one I've received from God, no. But there can be emotional "inheritances" carried from generation to generation within families ... some good, some harmful. One night as I battled insomnia, I read Psalm 16:5-6, and the word "inheritance" seemed to be written in bright, bold letters. I knew it was my One Word for 2017.

If you’re considering focusing on One Word in 2017, here a few things that have helped me:

1. Read the book My One Word by Mike Ashcraft & Rachel Olsen. It’s not mandatory reading – I chose One Words for several years before I found this resource – but it’s excellent. There’s also a website: http://myoneword.org
2. Take time to pray about your One Word.
3. Read through Scripture and see if a particular verse stands out to you. My One Words are always scripturally based.
4. Look for confirmation. My One Word is often confirmed by a quote, a song, or a visual. I use those as additional ways to focus on my One Word for the year.

So, do you prefer to keep New Year’s Resolutions? Does anyone else choose One Word for the year like me? I’d love for you to share them in the comment section!

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The Power of One Word by Beth K. Vogt (Click To Tweet)

I don’t do New Year’s Resolutions~ Beth K. Vogt (Click To Tweet)

There’s power in words. Beauty in words. Grace in words. (Click To Tweet)

Beth K. Vogt is a non-fiction author and editor who said she’d never write fiction. She’s the wife of an Air Force family physician (now in solo practice) who said she’d never marry a doctor—or anyone in the military. She’s a mom of four who said she’d never have kids. Now Beth believes God’s best often waits behind the doors marked “Never.” As a contemporary romance novelist, Beth is a 2016 Christy Award winner and 2016 Carol Award winner for her novel Crazy Little Thing Called Love.  She was also a 2015 RITA® Finalist for her novel Somebody Like You, which was one of Publisher’s Weekly’s Best Books of 2014. In 2015, Beth introduced her destination wedding series with both an e-novella, Can’t Buy Me Love, and a novel, Crazy Little Thing Called Love. She continued the series in 2016 with the e-novella You Can’t Hurry Love (May) and the novel Almost Like Being in Love (June). Her novella A November Bride was part of the Year of Wedding Series by Zondervan. Beth enjoys writing contemporary romance because she believes there’s more to happily-ever-after than the fairy tales tell us. Find out more about her books at bethvogt.com. An established magazine writer and former editor of Connections, the leadership magazine for MOPS International, Beth is also part of the leadership team for My Book Therapy, the writing community founded by best-selling author Susan May Warren. She lives in Colorado with her husband Rob, who has adjusted to discussing the lives of imaginary people, and their youngest daughter, Christa, who loves to play volleyball and enjoys writing her own stories.

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Now is the time for AGAPE

“The best use of life is love.

The best expression of love is time.

The best time to love is now.”

― Rick Warren

The Greek word Agape is often translated to Love in the New Testament, and the essence of agape love is self-sacrifice. Unlike our English word Love, Agape is not used in the Bible to refer to romantic or sexual love, nor does it refer to close friendship or brotherly love. Agape love is unique and distinguished by its nature and character. Agape love is the love of God, whose very nature is love. God does not merely love; He is love.

Everything God does flows from His pure and loving heart. His affection for us comes for no other reason except that it is His nature and the expression of His being. We are the undeserving recipients upon whom He lavishes His affection. In that same way, we are called to love others sacrificially.

Loving others takes time and sacrifice.

Jesus gave the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:29-37) as an example of sacrifice for the sake of others, even for those who may care nothing at all for us, or even hate us, as the Jews did the Samaritans.

Sacrificial love is not based on a feeling, but a determined act of the will, a joyful resolve to put the welfare of others above our own. But this type of love does not come naturally to humans. Because of our fallen nature, we are incapable of producing such a love. If we are to follow the example of agape, it can only come from its true source: Only God can generate within us the kind of self-sacrificing love which is the proof that we are His children. And because of God’s agape love toward us, we are now able to love one another.

Ask yourself today whether you’ve been a free and willing vessel of God’s agape love, and whether you’ve allowed it to flow out to others. What was the last sacrificial expression you’ve extended to someone else?

Remember the wave of people who initiated and encouraged others to follow suit in a trend toward Random Acts of Kindness? Step out today and revive that trend. Give yourself the permission to perform five acts of random and selfless kindness this week. Make it your mission to take the time and make the sacrifice. As Rick Warren wrote, “The time to love is NOW.”

John 15:10-12 (New Living Translation)

¹⁰ “When you obey my commandments, you remain in my love, just as I obey my Father’s commandments and remain in his love. ¹¹ I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow! ¹² This is my commandment: Love each other in the same way I have loved you.”

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Sandra D. Bricker is a best-selling and award-winning author of laugh-out-loud romantic comedy for the Christian market. Her most popular series (that started with Always the Baker Never the Bride) will conclude this spring with Always the Baker FINALLY the Bride, which is now available for pre-order at Amazon.

Sandie leads a team of writers in creating the Living It Out daily Bible study for CedarCreek Church. Today's devotion is based on the Living It Out study on the importance of loving others. If you enjoyed it, feel free to check out the daily studies by e-mail or audio podcast by clicking HERE

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An Uncompromising Message

The dictionary’s definition of uncompromising is “making no concessions; unyielding; without reservation or exception; undeviating.” 

 This doesn’t exactly describe our loving Savior! … Or does it? When a sacrifice had to be made on behalf of all of mankind, Jesus stepped up in love. He loved us so deeply, in fact, that he surrendered his spiritual home for a time and presented himself as a lamb to the slaughter for the forgiveness of our sins. 

That’s a kind of love that our human brains may never be able to fully comprehend. But at the same time, once he arrived, Jesus certainly made no excuses for the seriousness of his mission. This loving Savior of ours often came off to unbelievers — both then and now — as harsh. He was no politician; he never once changed in deference to the unwillingness of others to comfortably receive his message.

When one of his disciples told Jesus (in Matthew 15) that the Pharisees were offended by his teachings, he didn’t apologize for what he knew to be the truth. The main objective of Christ was to deliver that truth to an unsuspecting world; and he also knew that it wasn’t going to be well received in some circles. Did that stop him from delivering it?

From birth to death to resurrection, Jesus never once compromised on his message:

• Humble yourselves before the Word of God.
• You can only repent of sin after you’ve acknowledged its power over your life.
• Hit your knees and receive the forgiveness and redemption promised to you because you can’t get to God any other way.
• Now get up and walk the path of grace, sharing it with others.

When the beggar at the temple gate (in Acts 3) asked Peter and John for help, he had a specific picture in his mind of the kind of help he wanted: Money. He was probably stunned, even irritated at first, when Peter said, “Silver or gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.”

Though he may not have realized it then, the beggar undoubtedly later looked back on that moment at the gate as a pivotal turning point in his life and, more importantly, in the lives of countless witnesses.

A turning point, which always starts with one small step, can only be recognized as such after the passage of time. When Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin in 1793, for instance, he no doubt hadn’t looked beyond the simple goal of creating an easier way of separating cotton from its seeds. He probably had no idea that his little invention would spur the South’s economy into a plantation system, initiating a conflict with the North that contributed to the Civil War and beyond! How could Whitney have known that his single invention would mark a turning point in American history?

Like in the case of the beggar at the temple gate, often what we think we need is not at all what will set us free in the bigger picture; however, in Acts 3, we learn that all things come to a straightforward and uncompromising resolution through faith in Jesus Christ.

Simply stated: “Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord, and that he may send the Messiah, who has been appointed for you—even Jesus.” -Acts 3:19-20

Jesus Christ never wavered or compromised; and yet he delivered a resolute and steadfast message that was consistently wrapped in love and which was always based in the fact that he — unlike us! — knew the end result. Despite the fact that we may look foolish to unbelievers, following the directives set before us by a loving and omnipotent God is so simple at the core:

Tell the truth (and it shall set you free); turn toward Christ (because we can never please God without doing so); trust in God’s works in your life (because He’s faithful to complete them); examine yourself and confess your sins (as you minister to others from your experience). 

Easy? Not always. But simple in the miraculous and unwavering candor of the message? Absolutely.

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Sandra D. Bricker is a best-selling and award-winning author of laugh-out-loud romantic comedy for the Christian market. Her most recent book, Always the Designer Never the Bride is the third of a series of four novels in the Another Emma Rae Creation series from Abingdon Press Fiction. Check out her BLOG and sign up to receive her weekly posts by e-mail.  

Sandie leads a team of writers in creating the Living It Out daily Bible study for CedarCreek Church. Today's devotion is based on the Living It Out study on Christ's uncompromising message. If you enjoyed it, feel free to check out the daily studies by e-mail or audio podcast by clicking HERE.

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