A Family Focus

2 Corinthians 9:8, "And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work."

If your family were to choose one Bible verse to focus on this year, what would it be? Could it reside in a place where you would see it often and discuss its changing implications for each day, week and month? Would it give your family a common focus for prayers and dinnertime conversations? 

When we send our children out the door and into an unpredictable world, we want them to have a foundation of God’s unchanging truth. The Bible is full of people, stories, promises and principles to choose from depending on your family’s season of life. We chose 2 Corinthians 9:8: “And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.” 

It would take a lifetime to unpack all 2 Corinthians 9:8 means, but we hope that by giving it 12 months’ worth of devotion, we can begin to know more about how to live as humble recipients of God’s grace, lacking for nothing and fully equipped to be generous in giving away the grace we’ve received. We pray to be a family that recognizes God’s grace trumps every hand dealt in this lifetime. 

Maybe your family is coming off a season of change and needing to remember the unchanging character of God described in James 1:17: “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.” If your family is like mine and venturing into the teen years for the first time, then perhaps Ephesians 2:10, “For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago,” will be a welcome reminder that we are who God says we are and not creations of our peers or popular culture. 

The amazing thing about God’s Word is that it’s “living and active” (Hebrews 4:12) and “it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose” (Isaiah 55:11). Pray about it with your family and choose a passage to narrow your focus throughout this year. Read it in the morning, pray over it often and memorize it together. It’s a small investment of faith that is sure to have multiplied returns. 

Faith & Family columnist Jena Meyerpeter writes from Lenexa, KS. You can follow more of her writings at UnravelGrace.com