Whatever

This year is my TENTH year to have a word for the year. You can read about last year’s word (which also shows all the others from the past) here: https://www.hisstory-hisglory.com/blog/a-year-devoted. God placed this new word on my heart very early in 2022, and I’ve tried to be intentional in already focusing on what the Lord was trying to show me and teach me through it.

WHATEVER - Whatever is a word that during my preteen and early teenage years was considered highly disrespectful and likely would have even ended up with me getting grounded if I said it to my parents, or any adult for that matter. It might conjure up some thoughts for you of the cult classic, Clueless, or Kimmy Gibler’s boyfriend on Full House or possibly even Napoleon Dynamite. You either picture a stoned out teenage boy or a completely disrespectful, spoiled teenage girl. But over the past few months, I’ve seen it repeatedly in such a different context.

Photo by Valeriia Neganova on Unsplash

In each of those mentioned, it was an “anything goes” kind of attitude, as if it really didn’t matter. However, “whatever” from a biblical point couldn’t be further from that. Typically when I choose a word for the year, I also have a verse that goes with it…but this year I have two, and both of these verses show us the word “whatever” being used in very intentional, profound ways.

Philippians 4:8 says, “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.” To change what we do and who we are, we have to start with changing our thoughts. This verse is very clear about what should be going in to our mind, and my goal for this year is that this verse would be the standard for what I let my mind dwell on.

The second verse is 1 Corinthians 10:31, and it says, “Whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” So not only will I be intentional in my thoughts, but I will be intentional in my actions as well, honoring God with both.