Raise your hand if you ever kept a New Year’s Resolution all year long. Ever… Anyone? Okay, who made it past Easter? Yeah, me neither. Let’s get real honest, I never even finished one of those read-through-the-Bible-in-a-year plans. So there. I quit making resolutions a long time ago and started choosing a word to focus on. Oh, my ideas are big, like tweeting about it every day, or looking up every relevant verse. Well, you can guess how that turned out. Nevertheless, whenever I choose a word, it also chooses me, popping up in the unlikeliest places and following me from January through December. So here is my word of the year 2019.
ALTAR
Betcha you didn’t see that coming.
Defined in the dictionary as:
“a usually raised structure or place on which sacrifices are offered or incense is burned in worship,” well neither of those activities are on my to-do list.
Let’s try this one,
“often used figuratively to describe a thing given great or undue precedence or value especially at the cost of something else.” Huh?
Don’t worry, there’s more.
“A table like construction used in the Christian church in celebrating the Eucharist.” Still not exactly what I’m looking for. Here’s one more, just for kicks, “a table or place which serves as a center of worship or ritual – often used with the to refer to the act of getting married.” Uh, no.
Maybe history and word origin will help.
From the Latin word altare, probably akin to Latin adolere to burn up. Perhaps a little closer. Strong’s Concordance gives us the original Hebrew meaning for the word altar. Guess what? It’s altar. Isn’t that helpful?
Another word is also referenced in Strong’s,
whenever I choose a word for the year, it chooses me too #word2019 Click To Tweetzebach, which means slaughter. Probably not very palatable for the word of the year, right? In fact, so politically incorrect, it just might get you banned from social media.
SO WHY ALTAR?
“There I will go to the altar of God, to God- the source of all my joy. I will praise you with my harp, O God, my God!” Psalm 43:4 NLT
That’s it! I got a harp for Christmas and I want to play it. Of course I’m kidding, I don’t have a musical neuron in my brain.
But seriously, it’s joy I want. And here’s the thing that gets me when I read that verse, it happens at the altar: the place of sacrifice and surrender, the place of incense, which represents our prayers, where God is raised to a place of highest precedence and value at the cost of …
Zebach, slaughter, i.e. the flesh of an animal by sacrifice. Jesus, the perfect lamb of God.
But there’s another reason I chose altar. Not only is the altar the source of my joy, it is inseparably linked to sacrifice and endurance (which was almost my word last year).
“For the joy set before him, endured the cross…” Hebrews 12:2 NIV
ENDURANCE
Joy was my word for 2017 and it was unaffordably expensive, but I continue to hang onto to it, in spite of it all because it’s worth it. The altar costs all we have.
Zebach also means to offer, lay it down, willingly.
Everything – offering it all to a holy God, who is the source of all our joy. And yes, the Eucharist is about giving thanks for the suffering which brings us eternal joy.
“Therefore, through Him let us continually offer up to God a sacrifice of praise, that is, the fruit of our lips that confess His name.” Hebrews 13:15 HCSB
So I come to the altar, sacrifice in hand. Willing to offer praises for all that I have and all I have lost.
On the altar of our praise
Let there be no higher name
Jesus Son of God
You laid down your perfect life
You are the sacrifice
Jesus Son of God
“Then I will go to the altar of God, to God, my joy and my delight.” Psalm 43:4 NIV
What is your word of the year 2019?
If you don’t have one, follow along with My Right Side Up Life. More to come about altar.
Vickie, my word for 2019 is, DO. Whatever my hands set to do, I am to do it diligently. God assigned my hands to something years sgo yet I have still not done it. Its time to be like Niki and just do it. I love your wonderful word. I’m excited to hear more about how God speaks to you in the coming days.
I love it! It’s so easy to have intentions and sometimes we just need to get up and ACT! Do it sister
Is it possible you heard the word “alter”, it might be a loophole… just checking!
😉 jk, great post!
Well, I’ve certainly had to alter a lot of things too…
Mine would be “courage.” But it is in the sense of Christian courage – the willingness to say and do the right thing regardless of the earthly cost, because God promises to help me and save me on account of Christ.
We will be courageous together sister!
Diligent
Trust.
I have just been correctly diagnosed this week with Ocular MG. I have picked a word of the year for about 10 years now and the last week of the year I start praying about it. The double vision has almost driven me to the looney bin, but I have kept a fairly good attitude. I, too, have had to ‘alter’ my active lifestyle and come to terms with even if God doesn’t answer the way I want, He is still good.
The word trust has slapped me in the face more often than I care to admit in the past 2 weeks. Heck, my life verse is Proverbs 3:5-6…which was given to me by the Lord 20 years ago as I was watching my husband wither away from a Glioblastoma in the spinal cord!
I’m so thankful that I stumbled upon the 2017 National conference keynote speaker! You have truly been a blessing to me in my search for MG info.
I’ll apologize in advance for stalking you on you website, blog, IG and FB page! 😊
God bless!