I read a blog recently where the writer says she picks a word every year on which to focus, one that represents something that she feels the Lord calling her to do or work on. In the the past she has chosen words like “overlook” (overlooking the slights and offenses of others), “agree” (finding commonality with people rather than differences), and “available” (being available to God and others, open to what she had previously considered interruptions).
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As I enter 2020, I too have chosen a word to help guide my thinking and give me daily focus. My word for the new year is cruciform. The word comes from a book that’s reading me called, THE CROSS BEFORE ME: Reimagining the Way to the Good Life, by Rankin Wilbourne and Brian Gregor. I cannot recommend this book more highly. You will thank me for encouraging you to embrace the cruciform life to which all followers of Jesus Christ are called. Here is a sample of what you will read:
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Not only is the cross the instrument of human salvation; it is also the pattern for our lives here and now. The Apostle Paul was saying in I Corinthians that the cross is more than a means of personal redemption – it shows us what it means to live a fully human life. (page 40)–The cruciform life means giving up our self-salvation projects. It means letting go of our stories as we have always understood them. It means giving up our old sense of who we are and what we thought our lives we’re about. At the cross, God is inviting us into his bigger story. (page 74)–Healed ambition means no longer being undone by criticism, no longer being frightened to fail or to look weak or incompetent. You handle success lightly. You might even count it as a loss. Above all, today and again tomorrow you surrender your ambitions to God’s good providence and rest in the gospel. You go to work tomorrow, working from approval not for approval. That’s crucified ambition. (page 99)–A thousand years ago, Bernard of Clairvaux wrote a treatise, ON THE STEPS OF HUMILITY AND PRIDE, in which he comments, “Christ had all the virtues. But although he had them all, he especially commended one of them to us in himself (Romans 5:8), that of humility, when he said, ‘Learn of me, for I am meek and lowly of heart’ (Matthew 11:29). He could have chosen any virtue, for he possessed them all in perfect measure, but Jesus singled out humility as the primary one we are to learn from him. (page 103)–Once you believe the cross really is God’s way to the good and beautiful life, then instead of fearing what humbles you, you can remind yourself, “Anything that humbles me is good for me.” Not good as eating your broccoli, but good as in Thank you, God, for revealing my faults and weaknesses, for allowing me to face setbacks and disappointments. Thank you for anything that moves me closer to the freedom and truth of seeing who I really am and who you really are. Anything that humbles me is good for me, because it leads me toward joy in you, not away from joy. Humility does not diminish life; it leads us to it. Humility gives our souls the rest that our achievements never could. (page 110)
I always enjoy hearing about the books you are reading, especially the books that are reading you. Shoot me an email and let me know what I can buy next with my retirement budget. My personal email is: hipps1974@gmail.com
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Read well.