What's your verse?

 

Yesterday as I was driving, I heard a man talking about whittling your life’s purpose down into one succinct “biblical mission statement”.  He suggested that for the apostle Paul it might have been, “Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 3:13-14).  That seemed about right since Paul spent the latter part of his life traveling all over Asia Minor, Greece, Macedonia, Cyprus, Judea and Syria working to spread the gospel.

For King David, the man felt this verse might have been appropriate, “One thing I ask from the Lord, this only do I seek; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple.” (Psalm 27:4)  After all – David is the one who brought the ark of the covenant back into Jerusalem, and he is the one who sought to build a temple for the Lord. 

The man suggested that by spending time doing this – we would gain clarity of purpose. 

So, I thought about that for a while.  I supposed that for my husband Jim, his biblical verse of choice might be “His Lord said unto him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things.  Come and share in your Lord’s happiness.” (Matthew 25:23).  You see Jim is a leader by nature, but he is also someone who is very conscientious, and one who tries hard to “do good”.  I think that he would like nothing more than to be told by God at the end of his days, that he had done a good job here on Earth.

For Jesus, I think it was probably, “Not my will but yours be done.” It was a sentiment he relayed not only when he was in the garden of gesthemane, but after he had spoken to the woman at the well.  In John 4:34 He said, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.”  Then in John 5:30, while speaking to those who questioned him after he healed the man at the pool, he said, “…for I seek not to please myself but him who sent me.”  And finally, in John 6:38, after leaving the 5,000 he had fed with just five loaves and two fishes, he crossed a lake where another crowd greeted him.  He told them, “For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of hi who sent me.”

The exercise is an interesting one – and I suppose for me the verse I would want to claim is one that focuses on hospitality – maybe, Hebrews 13:2, “Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.”

I’d be curious to know – what would your verse be?