My Favorite Bible Verse

hey chris,

do you have a favorite bible verse? hard question to answer, i know, but just curious

-ts

Hi Tommy. I do have a few favorites.

My lifelong "key verse" has been Romans 8:28. My mother taught me this verse right before she and dad divorced. I have trusted it fully and lived by it ever since. It says,

"And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to his purpose."

Another favorite, also very dear to me, is 1 Peter 2:24. My pastor in Chicago gave me this verse. I think the Lord put it in his heart for me, and so it has been my testimony since 1989, when my heart was again broken very severely.

"He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed."

It is very much like another favorite, John 12:32,

"And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me."

God graciously impressed this verse on me in 2009, and Galatians 6:14:

"May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world."

These all point to Jesus on the cross, which is by far my favorite story in all the Bible or anywhere else. Jesus cry from the cross has always been the most moving and astonishing verse to me. Mark 15:34. I find no end of mystery and beauty and power in it, the pain and utter sorrow that He bore for me never fails to bring me to tears:

"And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? which is, being interpreted, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?"

Every year around New Year a choose one verse (or occasionally two) to dwell upon and hold as my favorite for that year. This year my key verse is 1 Timothy 4:13:

"Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and to teaching."

I could say these are my favorites, but I have another that surpasses even these, as dear to me, the words of Jesus in John 15:15:

"No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you."

My favorite books are Matthew's Gospel and Genesis. What I most love studying with students is Genesis and John's Gospel. How I wish you and I could study The Word again!

My favorite Psalm is Psalm 25. My favorite prophet is Jeremiah. I could go on, but you get the idea. I can't possibly pick a single favorite verse, as you probably can't name a single favorite work of architecture to put above all others.

Thank you for asking this question. It is so rewarding to reflect on it this morning. I am

His,

- chris
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Our passions are not too strong, they are too weak. We are far too easily pleased. [C.S. Lewis]