One of the recommendations for December 6th’s #LIGHTtheWORLD challenge is to “Find three scriptures that represent you. Share them with someone close to you.” Today I am sharing four scriptures that represent me.
So this one is a little obvious. When I was discussing what scriptures to use this morning at breakfast with my older girls I mentioned this one. Laura (bless her heart) said, “The key word here is ‘happy’!” I am very happy! Having my children around makes me happy. Watching them grow and learn and serve brings happiness to my life.
I know. This seems like a weird one to choose, doesn’t it? But I actually love all the verses surrounding it.
“5 Then Jesus saith unto them, Children, have ye any meat? They answered him, No.
9 As soon then as they were come to land, they saw a fire of coals there, and fish laid thereon, and bread.
10 Jesus saith unto them, Bring of the fish which ye have now caught.
11 Simon Peter went up, and drew the net to land full of great fishes, an hundred and fifty and three: and for all there were so many, yet was not the net broken.
12 Jesus saith unto them, Come and dine. And none of the disciples durst ask him, Who art thou? knowing that it was the Lord.
13 Jesus then cometh, and taketh bread, and giveth them, and fish likewise.” (John 21:5, 9-13)
This scene is best described in one of my favorite BYU Women’s Conference talks.
“While the disciples were struggling and striving, wavering between hope and despair, the Savior of the world was creating a little, temporary home for them – a place where they could be refreshed and renewed, and later instructed. It was a home first and foremost because he was there. It was a home, too, because like a loving wife or mother, he was considering their needs and pleasures, their comforts and joys- and meting his services to their heartaches and yearnings.
“The meal the Savior prepared for His disciples was a simple one. Have you ever wondered at that? This was, after all, the resurrected Lord. He could have produced any food from any corner of the planet and from any period of time. It could have been pate, peach cobbler or pressed duck. Instead, the risen Christ – with hands bearing our wounds – prepared a sweet, simple, familiar meal for his weary followers. And it is upon the simplicity of that meal that I would like to focus particularly. For the Lord was celebrating something we seem to avoid in our culture; he was celebrating the mundane, the repetitive, the ritual. (Nancy Young, “Who Sweeps a Room,” BYU Women’s Conference 2000,)
I just love that! It’s what I do daily as a mother. And Christ did it too.
We had this line inscribed on the inside of a bracelet for Marie for Christmas. Isn’t that a perfect scripture for a missionary? It’s also a great one for any disciple of Christ who loves Him and His word. I love not only reading but studying and pondering on the scriptures. The scriptures, along with the hymns, have been a constant source of peace and assurance when I am troubled over something. Their words ring in my ears and sound in my mind and, yes, burn in my heart to teach me, remind me, and guide me.
I’ve mentioned before I am an optimist, cheerfully so, much to the chagrin of my pessimistic friends. I can’t help but be, knowing God is in control. Is it hard when things don’t go the way I think they should or want them to? YES! But I have been through too much to deny that God’s plan for my life is ever so much better than what I have envisioned.
I have other scriptures that are favorites but these do a pretty good job of representing who I am as a person and who I am constantly striving to be.
What scriptures would you choose to represent you?
Come and dine! I love that! I’ll have to add that to my list of favorites. The one I shared with my kids this morning is from Lamentations 3:22-23—“the Lord’s compassions fail not; they are new every morning.” It’s just so comforting to think that there is always another day, another chance, a new start available. I love that.
The following four would sum up who I was and am now.
What I was
Jeremiah 17:9
9. The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?
The Bible provides us with an unchanging standard by which our feelings must be measured. not the other way around. The heart, the conscience of man, is deceitful above all things. It calls evil good and good evil, puts false colours upon things. God not only searches the heart with a piercing eye, but he also tries the reins, to pass a judgment upon what he discovers, to give every thing its true character and due weight.
Who saved me
John 1 v 1-3
1. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
2. The same was in the beginning with God.
3. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.
Who else was as qualified he was for the work of our redemption and salvation.
How he did it
Ephesians 2 v 8 -10
8. For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
9. Not of works, lest any man should boast.
10. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
The amazing gospel that is centered on the person and work of Jesus Christ, not on the person and works of the sinful man for I couls never have saved myself.
My future
John 5:24: “Verily, verily I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on Him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from death unto life.”
Jesus says that the one that believes has everlasting life. Eternal life is a present possession of all believers. Jesus promised it, believe it. Jesus goes on to say that those who believe in Him and have eternal life “shall not come into condemnation….” he says that we shall not enter into judgment, because we have already passed out of death and into life. Our sins were judged on the cross of Calvary once and for all, never to condem us again. What a blessed future awaits us.