My One Word for 2026
2025 was one of the biggest years of my life.
After literally years of work, I published my first book in October: Love Goes First: Reaching Others in an Age of Anxiety and Division. The book has not yet even been out for three months, but I have already been privileged to hear from people who have been wrestling through the ideas in the book, people who have decided to go first and move toward others. Often these stories are intensely personal and I feel privileged to have heard them—I wish I could share all that I have heard. This past fall, I preached a two month sermon series at Asbury on Love Goes First, a series that turned out better than I could have hoped. That’s actually how I feel about the book as a whole—looking back to New Year’s Day 2025, I could not have imagined that I’d finally finish the book and that I’d be so immensely proud of it and grateful for what the Lord gave me.
Last New Year’s Day, in fact, I published my annual “My One Word” post; my 2025 word was first, and it referenced my forthcoming book, among other things. From that post:
“My One Word for 2025 is also the theme of my new book. I really believe in its message and I believe that going first is the only way forward for the church in a post-Christian culture—we’ve got to move toward the very people that hate us.”
So, 2025 was a banner year for me.
And, in addition to the book coming out, it was just a good year overall. Thank you, Lord.
Which raises the question, What is my problem?
“A Preacher Should Preach Out of His Pain”
I’ve recently come up with phrase that describes what I believe to be the foundation of good preaching:
“A preacher should preach out of his pain.”
What I mean by “pain” is nothing to do with trauma or the therapeutic. That’s not what I mean at all. Rather, it might be better to say
“A preacher should preach from the pain points or places of friction in his life, or from problems he is trying to solve, or from places in his own life where he is trying to figure things out.”
What I mean is that the best preaching comes out of the preacher’s own gut—what are the things that are really capturing my attention? Where are the places in my life where I feel like I am falling short? Where is this personal to me? Why do I care? I find that the best preaching is the most personal—not in the sense of sharing personal stories, but rather from what really matters to me, personally. When I tap into the personal, that’s when a sermon speaks most to others.
As an example, let me give some insight into my Christmas Eve sermon this year.
Preaching to Myself On Christmas Eve
I don’t have any problems. Seriously. I know what problems are, and I know I don’t have any.
And yet, I really found myself lacking peace this past Advent season. I was short with my coworkers, easily frustrated and annoyed, ungrateful, and generally lacking joy.
As I was preparing for Christmas Eve, I decided that what the angels were singing was something I needed to listen to:
Glory to God, and peace on earth.
According to the heavenly host, the birth of Jesus means peace for the world.
So, that was the theme of my Christmas Eve sermon. But, why is it so hard to find peace? (Watch it here.)
I was preaching to myself!
What is my problem? Why do I have such a hard time being poised and pleasant?
In the midst of all the blessings God bestowed on me in 2025, why did I so often indulge frustration and entertain annoyance and display ingratitude? What is my problem?
The One Thing We Know About Parenting
My wife and I are definitely not parenting experts. In fact, we have called ourselves The Unexperts™️ in the past.
But, there is one thing we do know:
It is important for parents to delight in their children.
That is, children are a gift from God, and like all gifts, the appropriate posture a recipient should display is delight in what has been given. There is a place for discipline and difficult decisions, but delight should be the foundation.
Actually, delight is not just for parents, but for everyone. Life itself is a gift, and so we ought to delight in the very fact that we exist. Everything begins there.
“Delight” Turns People Tree-Like
I love what Psalm 1 has to say about scripture and the promise God extends to all who study it:
1 Blessed is the man
who walks not in the counsel of the wicked,
nor stands in the way of sinners,
nor sits in the seat of scoffers;
2 but his delight is in the law of the Lord,
and on his law he meditates day and night.3 He is like a tree
planted by streams of water
that yields its fruit in its season,
and its leaf does not wither.
In all that he does, he prospers.
Notice that what the psalmist says is the correct posture we should have before the scripture: delight.
We ought to delight in the Bible
the way a young woman delights in her new engagement ring
the way a dog delights in a new bone
the way a proud grandfather delights in that fiftieth anniversary picture when all the children and grandchildren are gathered together around him and his wife
etc.
I can’t think of a better theme for this year through the Bible than that of Psalm 1, and delighting in the scripture.
Psalm 37 Is My Medicine
In Psalm 37, the psalmist is even more explicit:
Delight yourself in the Lord,
and he will give you the desires of your heart. (Ps. 37:4)
What the psalmist is saying is that the way to be truly happy is to delight in the Lord and his gifts.
So, if I am annoyed or frustrated or lacking peace, the solution is to choose to delight in God and what he has given me.
(Another way to put it—to be grateful. I think you could argue that true gratitude always takes the form of delight.)
My One Word for 2026
I really want to have peace this year. But, for some reason “peace” as my one word just didn’t seem right.
This is the Year Through the Bible, and yet “Bible” didn’t seem quite right, either.
As I posted yesterday, I’m aiming for perfection when it comes to my Bible reading—“NDO 2026”—and yet perfection didn’t seem right, either.
Plus, I like my one word to be an action or a posture or a habit—something I can do.
So, I wanted a word that:
Would lead me to peace and joy and gratitude;
That would emphasize my commitment to the Bible in 2026;
That would be a continual reminder of what I needed to do in any and every situation.
So, drawing on all of the above—and especially Psalm 1—I decided on what I want my one word to me.
My One Word for 2026 is
delight.
