Life verses

A couple of weeks ago the Wednesday morning Bible study I've been attending had a guest teacher because the main leader had to be out of town. As he began telling us about the topic he said, in the five years he had been teaching, he had never had what happened occur before. Normally, he had to shuffle through notes, find some topic to rehash and prep for it again. This time, he knew exactly what he was going to teach and really did very little prep. In the back of my mind, I was thinking, "Okay, that's cool", knowing this is not really that unusual, yet, glad he was able to experience a totally "God thing".

Just a few days earlier I had completed my Accelerating Life's Purpose class. The two naturally dove-tailed for me in the nature of their message to me personally. Nonetheless, when he began talking about life verses and their importance I was intrigued. One fellow next to me used the analogy of a light house and a sailor's home port. In a way, no other verse has the comforting appeal of any other than your life verse. I added that to me, it both comforts and challenges, trying to communicate that it has a double-nature. The man that had just spoken and the leader both noted that "challenged" was the word that jumped out at them. People recognized what I said, but, I didn't feel I got the point across. I let it lie nonetheless.

The leader then went into the lesson itself. For him, he relayed two verses of importance in his life: 1) a comforting verse and 2) a guidance verse. The comforting verse helps one with the 'Why' questions in life. When difficult circumstances arise, we are often naturally drawn to try and understand 'Why?'. Our comforting verse helps with that. The guidance verse points to a truth that God wants to use to help us make good decisions throughout our lives. I sensed that there was something I still had to say, but, wasn't sure what it was yet.

After he had made his point the teacher went through some verses he felt were his. In the process he talked about how, when walking in the spirit (being spiritual), his verses drew him to God, while, when in the flesh (being soulish), his verses angered him. I thought this to be an interesting idea, nothing I novel, but, interesting in the context. The first gentleman threw out the word "magnetic" and I had a little collection of words and ideas gel rather instantly.

I then pointed out that life verses seemed to be like magnets. When we are in a good place with God (in the spirit) the verses draw and attract us, while, when we are being sinful (in the flesh) they repel us. Likewise, one of the key physical properties of magnets is their ability to repel/attract other magnets. The first gentleman went on to add that similarly, two magnets, when placed in proper alignment can create greater magnetic force or repel each other when misaligned. Also, there is a flow to the magnetic field in this case, just like there is a flow to out lives when we are aligned with God's word rightly.

Another idea that came to mind was the notion that people have different life verses for a reason. At first, when one comes into contact with the idea of a life verse, it is easy to naturally assume that a "life verse" will last one's whole life. My neighbor, Matt, mentioned in passing that some people have several life verses. I said that that would make sense because people go through different seasons, and, if God speaks a word over them to comfort/guide them through that season, it will be different from period to period as each season's fundamental truth changes from season to season. In short, people who have many life verses have many insights into the Word to share with others, since, after all, we are given our experiences to help edify and strengthen the church.

It got me thinking about one of my personal verses. When Liam was being dedicated last year one of the pastors gave him this verse based on his name, "Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes." Ephesians 6:10-11 Since he and I have the same name, it kind of follows his verse is also my verse. In one book I was reading, The Name Book, they gave another verse I never really thought made much sense. This one, however, is a verse (a chapter really) I have come back to a thousand times. I guess this is much like my home port. At any rate, I now have to integrate what I saw (the magnet notion and how my spiritual condition is evidenced by my reaction to this verse) into my walk. God's encouraging me to be in His Strngth. In my weakness (sin) I will be one bound to weakness, fear and the inability to stand the enemy's schemes.

So, I guess seeing that a life verse is important, I should note how I stumbled onto mine. There are a few sections of scripture that I have returned to over and over and over again. I read lots of different parts, but, Ephesians 6 is one I am always drawn to. The fact that I constantly want to return to that one was a good indicator. It never lost its appeal. So, there was something I still have to draw from it, some life I have not gained from gazing and holding on those verse.