Christian Woman: Why You Should (or Should Not) Choose a Word for the Year

“Stop striving and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted on the earth.”

– Psalm 46:10, NASB (emphasis mine)

A couple weeks ago, my husband quoted this passage in a sermon he preached at a neighboring church.  I’d heard the verse before, but the translation worded it in a way that it hit me specifically in the context of my own thoughts, desires and if I’m honest, fears about the current state of our world.  The Psalmist spoke these words in reminder that despite any suffering, danger, or misunderstanding one might walk through, God can be trusted to be God.  What was the key to ending striving?  What is the answer, in fact, to all our concerns, fears, questions?  We must know that God is God, and we must know that He WILL be exalted.  Here, on this broken earth.

Suddenly, I wanted to dig deeper (maybe for the hundredth time) into what it means to know, truly know, and to believe God is who He says He is.  I wanted to stop striving, in the human sense, to settle my heart and be at peace that whatever happens, God’s glory wins.  I scribbled on a post-it note, which I later copied into my journal, my word for the year: know.  

For the past few years, I’ve picked a “word of the year;” a word that peppered my thoughts and my Bible study time.

Each has been a word that I noticed woven into circumstances where I clearly saw God at work shaping me, refining me, calling me to repentance or obedience.  It has been a fun tool I’ve used in my personal growth with Jesus and it’s also a trend I see lots of Christian women recommending – choosing a word for the year.

I want to be clear, reader: I’m not advocating for some mystical practice where we think we’ve magically had a word revealed to us, one that’s going to teach us some elusive truth we couldn’t find in the already-complete Bible.  I take heed when other godly women challenge me and press for clarity and truth, so I want to point you to an article from another author for a moment (read on, too, for what I actually mean by choosing a “word for the year” as a Christian woman).

The protestant reformation brought about the “five solas,” which are foundational statements for Christians.  “Sola scriptura,” one of those five, rooted in 2 Timothy 3:16, proclaims clearly that no practice, tradition, or “word” has authority outside or above the Bible.  As a woman who was raised in a church tradition full of supposed “revelations” outside the Bible that often led to emotion-driven, rootless living lacking in spiritual maturity and equally lacking in the kind of steadfast faith scripture calls us to, I hold hard to this idea that we don’t get truth from arbitrary ideas, fads, and practices.  We find truth fully, completely, infallibly, in the Canon (the complete word of God for man).  In his letter to the Corinthians, Paul warns: “I have applied all these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit, brothers,1 that you may learn by us not to go beyond what is written, that none of you may be puffed up in favor of one against another.”  (1 Corinthians 4:6)  Another writer said it this way: “No man-made writing is sufficient to equip us for every good work; only the Word of God can do that. Furthermore, if the Scriptures are sufficient to thoroughly equip us, then nothing more is needed.”

It’s for this reason that when I found the post by writer/teacher Michelle Lesley where she shared her thoughts firmly on the idea of a “word of the year,” I took note.  While she shares some valid points we need to consider, I also disagree on some levels, both of which I think are worth noting.

Michelle’s take on choosing a “word for the year” (with my thoughts following each):

• “You find some way to think about or meditate on the word “peace” every day, but especially in worrisome or chaotic situations, and that’s supposed to make you a more peaceful person by the end of the year.”
  • This does seem to be the approach of some, but not all, Christian women who choose a word for the year.  Just like we may choose to focus on breaking a habit of staying up to late or do exercises to increase our core strength, we may choose to focus on a particular area of growth or look for a particular thread of truth in areas of our lives.  God may use many tools to grow us in our knowledge of Himself, and putting down a word we’ll look for could possibly be one of them.
• “I suspect this idea traces its roots back to some form of Eastern mysticism. It’s a modern day twist on repeating a mantra. And somebody thought it would be a good idea to ;Christianize it – so she slapped a thin coat of ‘this is how God can speak to you and work in your life’ paint over the surface of it.”
  • This is, indeed, a dangerous and growing practice I see especially in Christian circles.  I have found no such roots in my research, but it’s a worthy warning; no man-made practice has any power to transform us.  Only God can raise us to spiritual life, sanctify us, convict us, transform us.  We should be careful as Christian women not to try to justify any ungodly or worldly practice.
• “For starters, we are not in charge of our sanctification, God is. He is the one who gets to decide what work He’s going to do in our hearts, and how He’s going to do that. And that’s a really good thing because He is infinitely wiser and more powerful than we are and He knows our hearts much better than we do.”
  • AMEN!  If you (or I) think choosing a word to focus on is going to help us somehow muster up spiritual transformation for ourselves, make ourselves better women, we are barking up the wrong tree.
• “…sanctification isn’t linear. You don’t tackle peace, master it, then move on to patience, master it, and then move on to whatever’s next. And that’s how this ‘word for the year’ thing is set up.”
  • Michelle is right!  We’ll never achieve spiritual perfection this side of Heaven.  However, God does call us to “work out our own salvation with fear and trembling,” even as we remember that it is God doing the actual work (Philippians 2:12-16).  He indwells every person saved by Christ with the Holy Spirit, who instructs, seals our salvation, convicts and empowers us to obey Him.  So while we recognize that we cannot achieve our own spiritual growth, we are also called to participate in obedience to Christ even as He does His transforming work.  If we’re choosing a word for the year as some sort of “I’ve got this” mantra, we’re missing the point.  But if we decide to humbly ask God to work in our lives in an area we know needs help, that’s how He calls us to come to Him.  We recognize our need, we seek to obey Him, and we acknowledge/trust/glorify Him in His ability to accomplish all He has said He will do.
• “Finally, God has already prescribed our role in sanctification, and meditating on a particular word for the year is not even a little part of it. Our role in sanctification is to abide in Christ. How? We learn the ;how; of abiding in Christ from studying our Bibles.”
  • Absolutely we do.  We also pray and we obey.  We repent when God reveals our sin.  We trust Him to do the work and we walk in that trust as He leads.
• “This ‘word for the year’ thing is not necessary, it’s not biblical, and it kicks God out of His rightful place of authority in sanctification and attempts to put self in the driver’s seat.”
  • It is not necessary, and it is not a command of scripture.  In fact, if it’s a distraction or a temptation to put faith in our own abilities, we should not even consider it.  But I think it’s giving undue power to say it “kicks God out of His rightful place,” in the same way it would be to say no Christian book or song should ever be used that isn’t all, and only, scripture.  We know that while no content is ever equal to the Bible or inerrant as scripture is, God has allowed many men and women over the years to pen beautiful hymns, lovely devotional books and in-depth study guides that point us toward the truth we do find in the Bible.  They are not scripture’s equivalent, but they can be tools to point us to the One who saves and sanctifies.
• “When someone asks you what your word for the year is, just hold up your Bible and tell her, ;All of these.’ After all, Christ gives us abundant life. Why would we limit ourselves to one measly little word when we can study all of God’s words?”
  • Yes, yes, yes!  While I do love choosing a word to look for as I move through my year of following Jesus and digging into His Word, I also plead with women on the daily, “GET YOUR FACE IN YOUR BIBLE!”  In the same spirit Jesus gently chided Martha and reminded her sitting at His feet was really the only needed thing in the moment, we need to be reminded (myself the chief of these) that Jesus has given us all we need for this life and the next, in Himself.  He is all we need.  His Word is all we need.  Jesus is called THE WORD MADE FLESH, and ultimately, nothing else is necessary.  We know Him, we follow Him, we point others to do the same.

See the following verses as a reminder that we really can simplify and really must FEAST on the Word:

“His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.” – 2 Peter 1:2-4

“All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” – 2 Timothy 3:16-17

{Here’s one of my favorite tools and some tips for memorizing scripture, a habit I need to get MUCH better at.  You, too?}

So what do I mean by Christian women choosing a “word for the year?”

Just like I have favorite songs I love to sing to remind me of the truths of scripture, I love to journal (writing out prayers, concerns, and takeaways from Bible study, sermons, and trusted teachers, and noting ways I’ve seen God faithfully answer prayers according to His promises and character), and I’m a fan of having scripture art displayed in my home, I do like to choose a word for the year.  I give it no special power, and I make no claim that it’s whispered to me by God as equal to scripture.  I do find it a sweet little “extra” that’s fun to include in my prayerful planning for the flipping of the calendar.  So would you use a word of the year as a Christian woman determined to follow Jesus with your whole life?

If you decide that you want to use a “word for the year” as a small part of your journey in Christ, here are some ideas you may want to incorporate.

1. Prayerfully choose a word you’d like to incorporate into your Bible study.  I say this because, yes, God’s Word is where TRUTH comes from (See Psalm 19:7).  You might have a word that has recurred in your past Bible study, in conversation, or in other areas of your life.  Then make a list of scripture you’d like to study to inform your use of the word.  Perhaps the simplest way to do this is to turn to your concordance and make a list of all passages you find incorporating the word.
2. Look up each passage and read it in context.  This is VITAL to understanding what God is actually saying through the Bible.
   1. Who wrote it? 
   2. When and to whom was it written? 
   3. What was happening in history and in the lives of the audience? 
   4. What comes before and after the verse/passage? 
   5. Where else do we see the idea/theme mentioned in scripture?  
   6. How is the word you’ve chosen addressed in the passage?
   7. If need be, pull out a Bible dictionary, look at other translations, or look up any words in their original language.
   8. What do you see about God or about how you’re called to live in this passage?
3. Consider occasionally making a note when the word pops up in everyday happenings.  This is NOT some sort of extra-biblical revelation, but rather a way of noticing ways God may be convicting you or of seeing patterns of how His work in the world.  Prayerfully ask Him to confirm truth that aligns with scripture, as well as conviction you’re being called to act upon.
4. Always, always go back to studying scripture and always humbly be willing to toss away any habit, practice, or distraction from actually dwelling on Christ Himself, through the tool He’s used to speak to us, the Bible.  We can never let any potential “good thing” (even Christian resources, speakers, podcasts, focus words, songs, you-name-it) become an idol by stealing attention or confidence that belongs only to God Himself .
5. Ask God to convict, lead, prune, shape you in Christ’s image in and through every life circumstance (Galatians 5:16).
6. Consider reading this writing my dad shared on how his morning Bible routine has transformed his life (and our family’s).

This, again, though, is fantabulous, and I agree.  🙂

“When someone asks you what your word for the year is, just hold up your Bible and tell her, “All of these.” After all, Christ gives us abundant life. Why would we limit ourselves to one measly little word when we can study all of God’s words?” – Michelle Lesley

I mean it, reader: “a word for the year” might be a little tool, but THE WORD is indeed ALL WE NEED.  God said so.

Do you choose a word for the year?  How do you incorporate that into your daily study of the Bible and your growth as a Christ-follower?  Has it ever caused you distraction?  Share your thoughts in the comments below!

Living the inviting life together,

Angela

A few more thoughts from the web on the idea of a “word for the year:”

Thoughts on scripture as our only, and final authority, and God’s word to Christians.

Scripture Alone, a book by James White, that helps us understand and dive deep into why God’s word is sufficient, trustworthy, inspired, and infallible.

How to Build a Daily Bible Reading Habit (a guest post)

The writers at Candidly Christian also addressed the idea of choosing (or NOT choosing) a word of the year for Christian women.

Finally, Kaylene Yoder shared some ideas for how to grow with your word for the year as a Christian woman.