Tag: grace

Welcome 2019!

I love dreaming about the new year…the chance to start fresh, to make better choices, reaching goals, changing my world and maybe, just maybe, help others around me to change for the better. But sometimes, well if I am honest, a lot of the time, I can get lost in the busyness of life and stay in the same old rutt…doing things the way I always have, not making better, healthier or holier choices, but easy choices. Real life-changing goals fly out the window and surviving the day kinda goals become the norm.

One Word…One Focus

Last year I tried something new. I choose a word to focus on throughout the year, to view my world, my choices through the len of this one word. The plan was to help me stay focused on who I wanted to become and how I wanted to live and not just react as life happens around me.

Surrender

My focus word for 2018 was surrender. And my focus verse was Romans 12:1.

…by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.

 Choosing this word was scary, because I am a natural born leader, which really means I like to be in charge and get my way. I printed out the word and verse and placed it in a small frame in the window near my kitchen sink. Yes, I looked at it everyday. Although I don’t have any grand story about how it changed my life, what it did do was make me stop, think, and pray about things…my words, opinions, and actions. It made me turn to God, seek Him and trust Him to work in people and in situations that I might have wanted to rush in and have my say.

It is too early to share my word for 2019, I have some words that I am considering, researching and praying about.

If you have not chosen a focus word for a year, I encourage you to choose one this year. Really living it out is a big commitment. But the reward can be great, as you allow God to work in you and through you in 2019.

Choose Carefully, Not on a Whim

The steps below will guide you through choosing your focus word:

  1. Think about the kind of person you would like to become this year. Make a list of characteristrics that describe this person.
  2. Look up the definitions of the words you have listed. 
  3. Find bible verses that relate to these words.
  4. Prayerfully, chose one word from your study to be your focus word for the year.

Change Your Life

Tips for making your focus word having the impact on your life that you had hoped.

  • Remember. Find creative ways to keep your word in front of you daily. 
  • Focus. View every aspect of your life through the filter of your word. Watch for the ways God is working, ways you never expected.
  • Be transformed. Read, memorize, and mediate on God’s word. PRAY. Allow your heart, mind, and actions be changed. 
  • Write.  How are you experiencing life through your word?  How is God working in you?  What He is doing through you?
  • Share. Tell the people closest to you your word. Invite them to ask about your progress.  Listen to them and let them help.

Overlook…not Confront!

When I have a conflict with someone, do I always need to confront them? No you don’t…in fact we should not confront people for every offense, every time we feel someone has wronged us but instead be a peacemaker who is be willing to over look the offense and offer grace and forgiveness.

Sensible people control their temper; they earn respect by overlooking wrongs. Proverbs 19:11 nlt

Overlook in this context means to forgive, take away, formally, pass. over, i.e., remove guilt, and often associated punishment from a person who has sinned or done wrong (2Sa 12:13)[1]

Let’s be clear on this overlooking then doesn’t mean to AVOID dealing with the conflict or offense, but making to deliberate choice to forgive, extend grace and continue in the relationship.

We should overlook when the conflict is caused because of our wrong attitudes, assumptions or errors in communication.

We should overlook when the other person’s actions are not a sinful pattern of life, and has not caused harm to you or them.

Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others. Colossians 3:13 nlt

When legitimate complaints within the community arise, we are urged to forgive … one another. Paul employs a special verb for forgive (‘cancelled the debts’ in, Lk. 7:42) used elsewhere of God’s gracious giving or forgiving (Rom. 8:32; 1 Cor. 2:12; Eph. 4:32). The present tense makes it clear that this forgiveness is to be unceasing, even unwearying (Mt. 18:22).

 We demonstrate God’s grace when we refuse to hold grudges against those who hurt us. After all, God did that for us.    Charles Swindoll

keep-calm-and-overlook-offense

[1] Swanson, J. (1997). Dictionary of Biblical Languages with Semantic Domains : Hebrew (Old Testament) (electronic ed.). Oak Harbor: Logos Research Systems, Inc.