First Person with God-Revisited

When I take notes during a sermon, I usually write using the second person “you” or “your.” This usually stems from me quoting verbatim what the preacher said: “Can your character be trusted in a crisis?” {Rev. A. Hoxie, 6/14/2020 sermon} Using the second person also occurs during my journaling: “Make it a habit of sending up prayers when you see a need.” {Journal, 9/2/2020} I can attribute that to a carryover from my sermon notetaking habit. I can also attribute my easy use of third person and reluctance to use first person to my English classes as we prepared for formal writing and research papers. First person in a formal paper was verboten. Even when writing of my opinion, I used the awkward passive voice (“It was thought to be…” rather than “I thought…”) to avoid first person language.

With regular journaling, I had an epiphany. My journal is not a research paper. It is my conversation with God. It is my journey with God. It is my AHA revelations from God. Therefore, I need to insert myself into the relationship. In my post “First Person With God,” I discussed how substituting “I AM” for “God” in the Scriptures helps me better understand who God is in my life. It helps me feel the realness of God and that I have a personal relationship with Him. However, first person with God is not just me allowing God in; it is also me bringing myself into the relationship.

In one journal entry, I easily slipped into using third person: How can one pray for forgiveness if one is not willing to forgive? By using third person (or second person) language, I separate myself from the message. The lesson in that message is for the other person, not for me. The drawback of using second- or third-person language is that it removes me from the lesson. I am no longer accountable since it is about someone else. Surely God doesn’t think I need this; it’s for that her over there. However, knowing I am not perfect, there is a lesson in all of God’s Word for me. I have begun using first person language in my journaling and sermon notetaking. By simply inserting “I,” “me,” or “my,” I become part of the conversation with God. The lesson now becomes personal; it is actually for ME.

This change in behavior and thinking is new, so I still must make a conscious effort to use first person in my writings. It is not an easy habit to adopt. The lessons learned in my English classes are hard to dismiss even after all these years. And believe it or not, sometimes, the lesson for me is not necessarily one I want to learn. BUT, God’s word is always for me, be it a revelation, redirection, or rebuke. I must be willing to insert myself into that lesson in order to learn from it.

Let’s revisit the examples I used and update them with a focus on a first-person relationship.

• Instead of “Can your character be trusted in a crisis?” I now ask myself, “Can my character be trusted in a crisis?”
• Instead of “Make it a habit of sending up prayers when you see a need,” I have made it a habit to send up a prayer at the moment I see a need.
• Instead of “How can one pray for forgiveness if one is not willing to forgive?” I have rewritten it: “How can I pray for forgiveness if I am not willing to forgive?”

2 Timothy 2:15 (NIV) tells me to “Do [my] best to present [myself] to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.” I can only correctly handle the truth if I am willing to accept that God’s Word, “the truth,” is for me. Using first person language helps me to do just that.

Reflect: Have you heard a sermon or read a devotion and thought, “I wish so-and-so could’ve heard that. They needed that message.”? At any point had you considered that message was for you and not so-and-so? How can you hold yourself accountable to God’s Word? How do you make God’s Word personal for you?