Our Culture's Biblical Illiteracy - "An Illness Which May Be Terminal"

More than two decades ago, at the age of forty-four, I became a Christian. In an effort to “catch up” with others in my church, I enrolled at the Bible College of Victoria, a well-regarded evangelical institution here in Melbourne. Eventually I completed a Graduate Diploma in Christian Studies.

Some time later I was chatting with one of the college lecturers, and he remarked: “If you wanted to catch up with the people in your church you didn’t need to do a diploma. I could have taught you in an afternoon what they know.”

He was being cynical, but truth lay in his words. The decline in biblical literacy in our culture has been startling.

Here is what theologian Professor George Lindbeck has written:

The decline of biblical literacy has been abrupt and pervasive. Language, culture and imagination have also been debiblicized at a remarkable rate.

The decline affects intellectuals and non-intellectuals, the religious and the non-religious, those inside the churches and those outside, clergy and laity and…Bible-loving conservatives as well as purportedly less biblical liberals. ….

When I first arrived at Yale, even those who came from non-religious backgrounds knew the Bible better than most of those now who come from churchgoing families.

Though I came from a non-Christian family, I found I knew lots about the Bible when – twenty-two years ago – I first set foot inside my local Baptist church.

I knew, for example, that there were an Old and a New Testament and ten commandments. I knew the names of the four gospels as well as plenty about the life of Jesus. I could recite the Lord’s Prayer. And I had a strong knowledge concerning many of the characters, stories, literary expressions and proverbs of the Bible.

I guess this was partly because I had traveled a lot – not least including six months in Israel, exploring my Jewish roots – and had accumulated many life experiences, such as, for some years, a deep involvement in Zen Buddhism.

Also, I had always been a bookish, studious person. When I was at elementary school in New Zealand, in the 1950s, we had thirty minutes of (non-compulsory) religious education each week. One day the Congregational minister who taught us announced a contest, to see who could most accurately write down the Lord’s Prayer.

The winner? – Me, one of the few kids in the class back then who never went to Sunday School.

In any case, I find that some other non-Christian people my age also know a lot about the Bible. And younger people too often know little. I think it’s a disaster.

To quote George Lindbeck again:

Every major literate cultural tradition up until now has had a central corpus of canonical texts.…Without a shared imaginative and conceptual vocabulary and syntax, societies cannot be held together by communication, but only by brute force (which is always inefficient, and likely to be a harbinger of anarchy). 

But if this is so, then the biblical cultural contribution, which is at the heart of the canonical heritage of Western countries, is indispensable to their welfare, and its evisceration bespeaks an illness which may be terminal.

Ikea Catalog - Reaching Into People's Hearts

More than ten years ago I wrote an article for a former website titled “The Bible vs. the Ikea Catalog – Which is Winning Hearts?” It looked at how the annual Ikea catalog was overtaking the Bible as the world’s most distributed publication.

I actually did a bit of research to gather material for the article, including making contact with the Ikea head office and seeking out statistics from various Bible societies.

Though estimates differed, it seemed possible that more than 100 million Bibles were being distributed worldwide each year. Concerning distribution of the Ikea catalog, I wrote that it topped 100 million for the first time in 2001.

I actually thought my finished article had something pertinent to say, and after posting it on my site I sent out emails to various other bloggers alerting them to it.

However, hardly anyone seemed to pay much attention, and the article quickly went into my archives, relatively unnoticed.

But then something happened – very gradually it got linked to by lots of other sites, and traffic to the article started to build. Within a couple of years it was by far the most popular commentary on my former site, attracting hundreds of visitors each week.

It took me a while to work out where all this traffic was coming from. To my amazement, it eventually turned out that one of the main sources was this Wikipedia entry, “Quotations From Chairman Mao Tse-Tung,” which linked to my article and said about Mao’s Little Red Book:

The estimated number of copies in print well exceeds one billion, certainly a record in mainland China (although, worldwide, its publication is a distant second to the Bible, or third if all publications and printings of the annual Ikea catalog are counted as a book).

And thanks to that Wikipedia link I found my article featuring prominently when people did Google searches for information on the Ikea catalog.

So is the article still relevant?

Well, I noted then that distribution of the Ikea catalog topped 100 million for the first time. Now it apparently exceeds 200 million.

Back then I wrote about Ikea:

It already has around 150 stores in 22 countries. In 1997 it opened in Shanghai, two years later in Beijing and a year after that in Moscow. It sees these stores as stepping stones for further penetration of those countries. It is gearing up to enter Japan. The catalog printing run is set to soar.

Today the company operates more than 300 stores in 37 countries.

I think the conclusion I wrote then is as relevant as before:

China. Russia. Japan. Western Christians are spending heavily to reach people in such countries with the Gospel. Will we win hearts as readily as Ikea?

Onward Christian Soldiers

Who was the first Gentile baptized by Peter? Cornelius.

What did he do? He was a soldier.

God loves soldiers, though Christians throughout the ages have sometimes been unsure. Can you really be a soldier and a true Christian? My own thinking on this issue has evolved a lot.

My father was a Jewish refugee to New Zealand. He served in the New Zealand Air Force during World War II – he once told me he would have been first in line to volunteer to help drop the A-bombs on Japan – but after the war refused to accept the medals to which he was entitled, as some kind of anti-war protest. (After he died, in 1994, I wrote to the New Zealand Defence Department to check if the medals were still available. They were, and I have them now in my desk drawer.)

He and my mother became leaders of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, and I was raised in the 1950s and 1960s in an intensely anti-war environment. Yet at the same time my uncle – my father’s younger brother, who as a boy had been smuggled by Jewish groups into pre-war Palestine – was a career officer in the Israeli army.

I guess that ambivalence about military matters stuck with me. So after I became a Christian, at the age of 44, if I’d been asked my views about armed service, I might have answered with something vague to the effect that of course we need an army, but that it’s better that Christians not serve in it. Because armies are for killing, and Christians shouldn’t kill.

Or I might have said that I classified soldiers with lawyers and real estate agents. When you need them you expect them to get down and dirty. Better they not be Christians.

But gradually I've come to change my views. (At least about soldiers. I’m still undecided about lawyers and real estate agents.)  I’ve come to recognize something important: we need more Christians serving in the military.

In a post that is no longer online, Reverend Major General Ian Durie - a British soldier who later became an Anglican priest - examined many stories of serving soldiers in Scripture, and concluded:

We clearly see from the New Testament that soldiering is an honorable profession, but one which has to be conducted in a right way….Our Lord and the apostles (our model church leaders) approved then, as they approve now, the profession of soldier….Soldiering is an honorable profession, to which men and women of faith are called.

But don’t soldiers kill? Yes, they do. As Major General Durie explains:

There is a tendency…not to trust that God has appointed us to be soldiers, nor that soldiering has our Lord’s approval, and is a high calling under God. And when we don’t trust Him for that, when we don’t offer this part of our lives in worship to God, when we take off Christ as we put our uniforms on, then we abandon Him when we have a gun in our hand, at the time that we need Him most. Do you see that? It’s a matter of life and death, and at that supreme test we need God’s guidance more than at any other time.

So don’t be blind….Because as a Christian, if you are not ready to kill if need be, and approve of it, then you should not be a soldier. For myself, I know that in the Gulf War I was responsible for the deaths probably of hundreds, maybe thousands of Iraqi soldiers. I did what I believed was right under God, but I also know that at the last day I am answerable before Him for my actions there.

I recall C.S. Lewis in his book "Mere Christianity":

I have often thought to myself how it would have been if, when I served in the first world war, I and some young German had killed each other simultaneously and found ourselves together a moment after death. I cannot imagine that either of us would have felt any resentment or even any embarrassment. I think we might have laughed over it.

But do not the commandments tell us not to kill? Did not Jesus tell us to turn the other cheek? Yes, but justice and righteous are over-riding imperatives of God. Major General Durie again:

Where, we must ask the pacifist, is the righteousness in rape or robbery? Such things must be stopped, and we may ourselves use reasonable force to prevent them.…The same applies at a national level, internally against terrorists and rebels, and externally against other armies who threaten violent action against the state.

His conclusion: “It is always wrong to use force, unless it is more wrong not to.”

Struck by Lightning, Part Two

Welcome to Middle-Earth for the Summer!

Are we available to go where the Holy Spirit
wind takes us?

As a summer break for me and, I hope, a fun treat for you, I'm spending some time here excerpting from my last book, Hobbits, You, and the Spiritual World of Middle-earth. Here we continue Chapter One. See last week for Part One.

Struck by Lightning!

(Bilbo Baggins) part 2

But Gandalf is not the first to notice someone everyone else overlooks. Look at something Paul wrote to one of his young friends, centuries before Tolkien wrote a single word.

❖ 

I am reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also. For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline. So do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord . . .He has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time (2 Timothy 1:5-9).

In this letter, Paul knows he’s close to the end of his life, and he has a lot he needs to pass on. He’s the leader for dozens of churches—pretty much all that existed at the time. He knows it’s time to leave others in charge. If he doesn’t find people to take on the job of leading the church and telling people the story of Jesus, this thing is going to die. So, he looks around for the person he can confidently pass the torch to, and he picks a kid in Greece. Would you be scared to be handed an adventure that big? Timothy was, and he had good reason. Look at the verses again, putting yourself in his place.

Questions to Ponder:

Why might Timothy be afraid? Of what? 

Paul reminds Timothy that he does have a couple qualifications. What are they? 

Have you ever tried to start a fire? What does it mean to “fan (a fire) into flames?” What happens to the little spark your fire starts with if you don’t fan? What happens if you do? 

Like starting a fire, what kinds of things can a person do to take their spark--whatever gift or ability they have--and make it into something big? What would be scary about that? 

What does Paul tell Timothy God gave him to help?

Timothy wasn’t born ready for the job. He doesn’t feel equipped. He doesn’t have the Jewish background the other church leaders have. He has no formal training. He learned all he knows from his mom and grandma. Can you see that one played out in a job interview?

“What qualifies you for this job?”
“Well, um, my grandma...”
Yeah, you can pretty much stop right there.

But, he has two things no degree can ever give him. One, the willingness to do what he’s been chosen to do, no matter how hard it may be. And two, a humble spirit that won’t let pride (or fear) stand in the way.

Paul encourages Timothy: you’ve been chosen to do this by the God who raises the dead! That’s all you need. It doesn’t matter that you’re young. It doesn’t matter that you don’t know all I know. God chose you—are you willing?

That’s the secret of Bilbo’s victory, too: he’s been chosen. He doesn’t know why. He probably thinks all of Gandalf’s fireworks have shaken the wizard’s brain too much. But, just knowing that someone so great picked him makes him gather his small courage and believe he has a shot.

Then, he takes the next step. He decides he’s willing to do whatever he has to do for the job. Steal from a dragon? Carry out a wild river raft escape? Negotiate peace between forces at war? Take on giant spiders? (That’s where you’d lose me!) He just does it, because someone has to, and he’s been chosen.

What About You?

What responsibilities has God given you? Are you willing to do whatever it takes to do them well?

Is there some particular task you feel God wants you to begin? What’s stopping you? Make a plan for you and God to get moving—without fear.

Words to remember:

“The word of the LORD came to me, saying,‘Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.’ ‘Alas, Sovereign LORD,’ I said, ‘I do not know how to speak; I am too young.’ But the LORD said to me, ‘Do not say, ‘I am too young.’ You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you,’ declares the LORD.” Jeremiah 1:4-8

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Hobbits, You, and the Spiritual World is a devotional using twenty J.R.R. Tolkien characters. It looks at what makes those characters who they are, where Scripture talks about the same kinds of people, and what it all means to a young person today. Interactive application and fun side additions included!  

 If you would like to find the book for yourself or a teen/young adult you love, you can purchase it here:

Paper Copy

Kindle

Struck by Lightning, Part One

Welcome to Middle-Earth for the Summer!

As a summer break for me and, I hope, a fun treat for you, I'm going to spend some time here excerpting from my last book, Hobbits, You, and the Spiritual World of Middle-earth. Chapter One starts with -- well --who would you expect it to start with? The title Hobbit himself, Bilbo Baggins.

One

Struck by Lightning!

(Bilbo Baggins) part 1

Vital Stats

Favorite Activity: Food. Anything remotely related to it. 

Least Favorite Activity: White water rafting.

Most Prized Possession: His vest buttons. 

Always on the Lookout For: Those Sackville-Bagginses. And a good piece of cake.

Where to start with Bilbo? If a person even tried to make up a less likely hero, I’m not sure he could. 

Bilbo is short, scared, out of shape, and thinking a little more about his dinner than helping out a brother. Who’s betting on him to slay the dragon and save the world? Definitely not the thirteen slightly taller people stuck with him for what they guess will be a long trip with the little whiner. Who even believes in him? He certainly doesn’t.

                                                               ❖

“Poor Bilbo couldn’t bear it any longer. At may never return he began to feel a shriek coming up inside, and very soon it burst out like the whistle of an engine coming out of a tunnel. The poor little hobbit could be seen kneeling on the hearthrug, shaking like a jelly that was melting. Then he fell flat on the floor and kept calling out, ‘Struck by lightning, struck by lightning!’ over and over again; and that was all they could get out of him for a long time.” (J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit)

❖

Yep, that’s the first impression we get of the daring adventurer. He’s afraid of the dark corners of his own house; forget facing trolls, goblins, and dragons. And not one of the thirteen dwarves thinks he’s going to survive, much less be of any use.

But in the end, he does a lot more than survive. He saves all their butts--more than once. Through the whole book, he’s knifing giant spiders, going for a wild ride on a wet barrel, and coming up with a plan to save everyone, even if he has to put his own life out there. He proves he’s not that shaking bowl of jelly anymore. He proves he’s what Gandalf said he’d be all along—a hero.

What does this highly unlikely hero have to show by the end of the story? He has amazing courage, uncommon common sense, unbelievable compassion, and brilliant negotiating skills. Not bad for a guy who started out complaining that adventures would make him late for dinner and that missing a meal was the worst fate he could imagine.

This is not the Bilbo who began his journey whimpering about pocket handkerchiefs. Or is it? Gandalf insists from the first night: “I chose Mr. Baggins and that ought to be enough. There is a lot more in him than you guess, and a deal more than he has any idea. You may, possibly, all live to thank me yet.”

Gandalf seemed to think Bilbo could do it from the start. What did he see inside the hobbit that no one else, not even Bilbo himself, saw there? Did Gandalf know he would learn to leave those handkerchiefs behind and embrace his “herohood” in ways no one ever expected?

________________________________

Hobbits, You, and the Spiritual World is a devotional using twenty J.R.R. Tolkien characters. It looks at what makes those characters who they are, where Scripture talks about the same kinds of people, and what it all means to a young person today. Interactive application and fun side additions included!  

 If you would like to find the book for yourself or a teen/young adult you love, you can purchase it here:

Paper Copy

Kindle

Does Truth Determine Experience or Experience Determine Truth?

 

Philosophy is mind bending, but the culture's philosophical underpinnings are critical to morals, ethics, and choices.

I have a friend who debates politics with me on a regular basis. It might not surprise you, but I am very conservative in my politics, he is a H Clinton Liberal. We enjoy chiding one another about the issue of the day, and after 25 years, we can still disagree and be friends.

The other day he looked at me with new understanding, and said: "You are very consistent in your positions. I'm beginning to see that your position on individual issues is always founded on your idea of fundamental truths that are important to you." I was more amazed than he was. DUH! Was it possible that anyone makes decisions about abortion, or war, or Divorce, or welfare, or freedom without foundational principles of truth to guide them?

My brother told me the other day that Josh McDowell asked at a conference recently, "Does experience determine truth or truth determine experience." I had never heard it put this way before, so I headed to Google. The debate isn't very robust on the subject, but McDowell, who is famous for being in touch with the teens and 20 somethings, went on to say that young adults today believe that experience is the underpinning of truth. He compares that to the older folks, who believe that truth is foundational, and that experience must be measured in terms of truth.

It could also be a conservative Christian vs liberal kind of thing, except a lot of Charismatic Christians seem to trust experiences without much in the way of Biblical truth claims. That is the underlying problem that John MacArthur has with the Charismatic movement. I have issues with Pastor MacArthur on his handling of criticism regarding other denominations within Christianity, but I have long wondered whether many in the Charismatic movement are much too caught up in experience. On the other hand, who could argue about the effectiveness of this branch of Christianity. (Did I just make a case for experience over truth.)

I will admit that the Truth of Scripture is the most important source for forming my opinions and informing my decisions. Moreover, my daily experiences, good and bad, are constantly being compared to my understanding of those truth principles. I believe that the Holy Spirit helps me in all of those efforts.

But now I can see that others might work from a completely different approach. They might know three women who have had abortions, or merely seen several on TV, who say they are happy they did it, and that if they hadn't had the abortion, the results would have been negative for their emotional or economic health. This experience is consumed by the listener in a vacuum of truth, and abortion seems like a good idea to them based on the experience.

On another day, this same person might watch a video showing a 14 week-old fetus in utero with a doctor explaining issues regarding brain development, ability to feel pain, and such. The sensory aspects of watching and listening, combined with the feelings and emotions of that video, may cause the person to reach a new truth decision. But that truth decision will be just as flimsy as the earlier sense that abortion is fine, or fine for some people, or for some circumstances.

Where do you come out on this philosophical question?  Why?  

Are You Searching for Good or Evil?

“If you search for good, you will find favor; but if you search for evil, it will find you!”—Proverbs 11:27 (NLT).

We can read the Bible cover-to-cover many times but never recall every scripture. However, the Holy Spirit brings the perfect one to mind in His timing. That’s what happened to me when I recently attended LifeChurch.TV with a friend on a Saturday evening.

The first scripture Senior Pastor Craig Groeschel cited in his sermon was Proverbs 11:27: “If you search for good, you will find favor; but if you search for evil, it will find you!”

Using a real-life example, Pastor Groeschel used birds to demonstrate his message. A buzzard, he said, searches for dead things, like road kill, to feast on. However, the tiny hummingbird flits around looking for sweet things—the sweet nectar of a flower or that provided by a human in a feeder. “Both,” he said, “find what they’re looking for.”

As I thought about the scripture and the pastor’s example, I realized how true it is. If we don’t look for the good, then we will certainly see the evil in everything. I’m not saying we should look at the world through rose-colored glasses but neither should we be a “Negative Nancy” or a “Debbie Downer.” (Note: If your name is Nancy or Debbie, please do not be offended.)

How often we take offense, choosing not to seek the good in another person or a situation we cannot change. Romans 12:2 tells us “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind.”

Clinging to what is good should be the choice each Christian makes. 

Through the renewal of our mind, which can only happen through a transformational relationship with Jesus Christ, we can begin to see the good in the world. Some believe it’s difficult to see the good when we are blasted constantly with negative news, courtesy of the media. Maybe that’s because bad news travels faster than the good. There is a common saying in the journalism business which is, “If it bleeds it reads.”

Even Laboratory Rats Have Hope

I like this acronym for HOPE:

 Holding On, Praying Earnestly.

 “This hope is a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls”–Hebrews 6:19(NLT).

Have you ever lost something? Maybe your car keys, a pair of eyeglasses, money, friends or a loved one? Maybe you’re losing your hair or you’ve lost your sense of humor.  Maybe you want to lose weight or maybe you’re trying not to lose your youth. We can lose our patience. We can lose our way and we can lose a sense of who we are.

However, I think the most tragic thing we can lose is hope. It’s hard to cling to hope when the media screams at us with negative news about government shutdowns, school shootings, foreclosed homes and a tanking economy. This news can leave us feeling powerless, inadequate, angry and hopeless. Unless, we know the author of hope, we will remain in this state of fear and hopelessness. As humans, our definition of hope is different from God’s.

Hope is not wishful thinking. We can hope our team wins the Super Bowl. We can hope our grown children make wise choices. We can hope the economy turns around soon.

The biblical definition of hope is not a “hope-so” but a “know-so.”  It’s whom we know. Our hope isn’t found in man, nor government, or even in our own abilities. Our hope is found in our Creator, our Lord and Savior.

Years ago, researchers conducted an experiment to see the effect hope has on those undergoing hardship. Using two sets of laboratory rats, the scientists placed the rodents in separate tubs of water. Researchers left one set of rats in the water and discovered within an hour they had all drowned.

The rats in the other tub were lifted out of the water at regular intervals, and then returned. The scientists discovered that when this happened, the second set of rats swam for over 24 hours. Why? It wasn’t because the rats were given a rest, but because they suddenly had hope.

These animals somehow hoped that if they could stay afloat just a little longer, someone would reach down and save them. If hope has such power for rodents, how much greater should its effect be on our lives?

 

If you reread the end of the first sentence in the previous paragraph, you just might see the correlation between what the rats were hoping and what we, as Christians, know: “someone would reach down and save them.” Isn’t that what God did when He sent His only Son to die for us on the cross?

Jeremiah 29:11 tells us, “‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’”

The Bible is a book of hope, full of God’s promises to His people. I like this acronym for HOPE: Holding On, Praying Earnestly.

These words from evangelist Billy Graham offer hope: “I've read the last page of the Bible. It's all going to turn out all right.”

You can bet on it.

If you need encouragement in your daily life, please check out my blog and books at www.carolaround.com. 

What Kind of Person do you want to become this Year?

“Put on your new nature, created to be like God—truly righteous and holy”

—Ephesians 4:24 (NLT).

In her 1908 classic, “Anne of Green Gables,” author Lucy Maude Montgomery said, “Isn’t it nice to think that tomorrow is a new day with no mistakes in it yet?”  Although each day is full of promise and expectation, New Year’s is the only day we celebrate with fanfare and excitement. Then, as the days pass, we often find ourselves forgetting January 1 isn’t the only day we can start anew.

When the calendar changes from one year to the next, we’re filled with hope and the possibilities that await us. We’ve made mistakes in the past and vow not to revisit them. But then, we stumble. We vow to make changes on the first day of each year, but our motivation wanes as we get caught up in the mundane.

Former UCLA Basketball Coach John Wooden once said, “If you’re not making mistakes, then you’re not doing anything. I’m positive that a doer makes mistakes.”

Recently, a relative lamented the many mistakes he’d made in his failed marriage. He was heartbroken and taking all of the blame upon himself. Although he had been raised attending church, he had drifted away. As his marriage crumbled around him, he said, “I’ve never felt so lost in my life.”

Then, he admitted he had not been putting God first in his life. Since that realization, he has returned to church, was baptized and is now seeking God’s will each day. During his baptism, the pastor did something unique. While denominations differ in their baptismal rite, I delighted in this pastor’s choice. It was a full body immersion with the pastor laying my relative backward into the water, then lifting him up and placing him face forward into the baptistry. 

It's only through God's Holy Spirit we can become a new person.

Explaining the symbolism of this method, the pastor said, “When being placed backward and then forward into the water, it represents a letting go of the past—or the old man—and moving forward, filled with God’s Holy Spirit.”

How one word can change your life

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God”—John 1:1 (NIV).

If you’ve never made a New Year’s resolution, you’re in the minority. However, we all have one thing in common—time. In an article for “Pulpit Helps,” author Steven B. Cloud wrote,    “As we look into a New Year, we look at a block of time. We see 12 months, 52 weeks, 365 days, 8,760 hours, 525,600 minutes, 31,536,000 seconds. And all is a gift from God.”

Our lives have become so busy, yet we add to the burden each New Year by making a list of resolutions that most of us will fail to accomplish—quit smoking, lose weight and get healthy or save more money. This is just a partial list but some of the more popular ones. That’s why we see so many advertisements promoting products and gyms to help us accomplish our goals. Stroll through the aisles of a bookstore and you’ll find so many self-help books, it’ll make you go cross-eyed with confusion.

One book, however, has the power to change your life. The Bible is filled with words of wisdom and encouragement. In Luke 11:28, Jesus says, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it.”

In January 2007, Pastor Mike Ashcraft challenged his congregation to ditch their New Year’s resolutions and each pick one word to focus on that year. Embracing this new idea to approaching personal change and spiritual growth, church members realized the simple plan is more effective than making an overwhelming list of resolutions each year. Why? Called God’s instruction book for life, the Bible addresses every aspect of our lives—spiritually, physically, emotionally and financially.

 One word can change your life when it is grounded in faith.

Because we lead busy lives, we tend to focus on the surface-level of issues, forgetting God has numbered our days. Trying to manage our lives and our time, we fail miserably because we haven’t taken the time to seek God’s wisdom. Ultimately, says Pastor Ashcraft, that’s what the “My One Word” project is all about. 

Willpower and self-effort only get us so far. When we’re overwhelmed with a long list, it’s even more difficult to achieve lasting change. That’s why, according to Ashcraft, the One-Word project works. 

To choose a word for 2015, Ashcraft suggests asking the following questions:

1.      What kind of person do I want to become this year?

2.      What drives my desire to be this kind of person?

3.      What characteristics define this type of person? Make a list.

4.      Reduce your list to 10 words or less, research those words using a dictionary and Bible.

5.      Choose one word from your list as your word for the year.

6.      Choose a Bible verse that speaks to you about your chosen word and memorize it. This will provide a foundation of truth you can continually return to and will fuel your hope to change.

7.      What initial expectations do you have regarding the impact of your word?

One word can change your life when it is grounded in faith.