Pastor Tim’s Blog

WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE SCRIPTURE?

I got caught off guard the other day when I was asked by some young men I got to talking with at the gym where I work out. One was trying to quickly lose weight in preparation for a fight. I’m guessing the other might have been a trainer for him. They were surprisingly conversant and, in the conversation, asked what I did for a living. I figured when I told them I was a pastor that the conversation would come to a quick end! To my amazement, it didn’t (though I will acknowledge that their language cleaned up significantly!). Then, out of seemingly nowhere, one of them asked me what my favorite passage of scripture was.

Dare I acknowledge that I fumbled a little? It’s not that I don’t know passages of scripture, but I always have a hard time determining “my favorite” in most categories of life. And I wasn’t exactly expecting these guys to ask that question! I had to admit that I wasn’t sure I had a “favorite” verse—that it depended upon what was going on in my life that day. I finally suggested Lamentations 3:22b-23, which says, “His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” I wanted to leave these guys with a promise from the Lord. Then I asked the one who raised the question to me, “How about you?” And he quoted a passage unfamiliar to me, then smiled, asked if I’d ever heard it before, and explained that it was from the Book of Mormon.

I’ve been thinking about that conversation ever since (and have also wondered how the guy’s fight went). I guess the first passage that comes to my mind when asked for my favorite verse is Romans 12:1-2—

Therefore, I urge you brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

This has probably been a “life verse” for me, and I’ve clung to it many times.

How about you? Do you have a favorite verse? How would you have responded to my acquaintances at the gym? I’d love to read your responses.

Blessings on you!

Pastor Tim