Most awkward pastoral moment: When I’m pressed to identify my favorite verse in the Bible
Sometimes it happens because a fifth-grader asks when I visit his Sunday School class. Sometimes it happens when I’m supposed to inscribe a gift Bible for one of our first-graders. Sometimes it happens in dialogue with a men’s Bible study. “Pastor, which is your favorite verse of the Bible?”
So, here’s the awkward truth I face in those moments: I don’t have one. Truly, I do not have a favorite Bible verse. I never have. It’s not that I came to the reasoned position that I shouldn’t have one; it’s just that I’ve never had one, and all that I offer here is baldfaced after-the-fact justification.
Should I Have a Least-Favorite Verse, Too?
You know, I’m not going to tell you who my favorite child is, either. It’s not that I never have one—each of them has their moments in the spotlight. It’s just that it would be wrong for me to identify one of my children as my favorite. To pick one as favorite is necessarily to relegate all of the others to secondary status. In the same way, even from my childhood, it has always felt wrong to me to try to pick out a favorite verse of the Bible.
I know that’s totally weird. My favorite people have favorite verses (see what I did there! 🙂 ), and your stature in my eyes is diminished not at all if you are a passionate favorite-verse-picker. But I can’t bring myself to demote the preponderance of the Bible beneath One Verse To Rule Them All. Too much of it means too much to me.
Am I the Bible’s Review Critic?
When I pick up my Bible, I’m not convinced that it is my task to evaluate it. Marvel in the grandeur of it? Yes. Delight in the teachings of it? Yes. But more importantly than all of those things, my task is to submit to God. It’s probably a lot more important that I seek to BE picked as one of God’s favorite followers than that I make myself the verse picker and the judge of which things God has said are better than those times when God presumably didn’t bring His A-game.
Maybe the least favorite verses are the most important ones. Maybe the ones that rub me the wrong way are the true test of my discipleship. Atheists can and do pick favorite verses from the Bible and are absolutely thrilled to live by them. They come to the Bible as critics, judging the Bible part-by-part to weed out the offense while retaining the highlights. My role ought to be different.
Are We Making Too Much of Verses?
As initially written, of course, the Bible didn’t have any versification at all. I worry that we’re a wee bit too adept at cutting the Bible down into soundbites (or, in this Internet age, sound-bytes). If you ask me what I love about Romans 5:1 (a perfectly acceptable question), you’re going to wind up hearing what I love about Romans. Romans the church has had since her infancy; “Romans 5:1” is a newcomer.
I want to help people love God’s word as a unit. To be fair, I think that probably starts with loving particular portions of it. But the Bible is the only book around that we try to introduce to people in disparate snippets. Perhaps, in this one way like a good novel, the Bible is best loved by those who just read it and who dare to fall in love with the whole because they have fallen in love with the Author.
When ever I preach through a book, I tend to preface it: “this is one of my favorite books of the Bible.” And really, I mean it every time.
I do want my people to fall as much in love with Leviticus as, say, John. I think learning to read it as a whole and seeing the Author behind it knitting it together (and falling in love with him) does go a long way toward that.
I have found myself saying a lot too. I also mean it EVERYTIME! I love all of Gods word…and love it more the more I read and study it.
“this is One of my favorite books/texts”
“this is one of my favorite verses”
I think that’s because of the amount of time that you spend preparing to preach it and when you spend that much time with a passage you do fall in love with it. Lots of times, when I have finished preaching through a book, it is kind of painful. Kind of like I’m leaving a place that I have visited that I thoroughly enjoyed and now it’s time to go somewhere else.
Excellent post… I really like this thought… “As initially written, of course, the Bible didn’t have any versification at all. I worry that we’re a wee bit too adept at cutting the Bible down into soundbites (or, in this Internet age, sound-bytes). If you ask me what I love about Romans 5:1 (a perfectly acceptable question), you’re going to wind up hearing what I love about Romans. Romans the church has had since her infancy; “Romans 5:1? is a newcomer.”
Sometimes I think a lot of folks think the verse identifiers came with the text. 🙂
Was the Bible divided into verses so that it would be easier to tweet?
Ecclesiastes 10:19.
Best verse in the Bible.
It seems whatever portion of scripture I am reading is my favorite at the moment. It sticks with me throughout the day, week, or month. That said, while the portions I don’t understand may not be my favorite they cause me to search more deeply into other portions I do comprehend, and that causes me to fall in love with Him more deeply. It is a circle and not and end to the ever growing more like Him process.
Your thoughts on favorite verses or sermons you preach cause me to think about God’s truth and that’s what a great pastor should do. I’m thankful to call you my pastor and not just my preacher.
Interesting post. I agree with your thought process, and would never want someone to think that one portion of Scripture is more important than another. And yet I also see how one verse can be used by God in a meaningful way in someone’s life.
I’m one of those who has always had a favorite verse, and when I tell it to people, I always preface it by saying “this is a verse that has been particularly meaningful in my life.” It is a verse that God used in my life in a profound way when He called me into ministry. I don’t obey any of the rest of the Word of God less, and I don’t place my favorite verse in a category of “super Scripture.” God used that verse to change the trajectory of my life, so it will always be seen in a different light for me. Thanks for the post!
I’ve had passages of scripture that have played important roles at important times in my life. But they are legion, and with each passing year, the number grows.
Dave,
How about personal “Life Verses”?
I don’t have inerrant confidence is such things, but I have a personal verse that is so accurate that even C. B. Scott would agree!
Matthew 15:16
I don’t have a problem with your having personal life verses or favorite verses or anything like that. I’m just explaining why I don’t.
…You know, so you can have some little glimpse into what it must be like to be as strange as I am.
Hey Bart,
I am more than happy to share the application of my “Life Verse” with you. Maybe others won’t dare to assign it to you, but I’m sure you have the humility to own it also.
Jesus was talking to his disciples when He said,…
“Are you also still without understanding?” Mt. 15:16 ESV.
I mean, like, I OWN that life verse!
🙂
I should’ve read more closely!
It’s amazing how God has revealed himself to us. It behooves us to study all of it earnestly.
Great thoughts!
Whenever someone asks me what my favorite bible verse is, I try to answer with a partial verse …something like:
(Acts 2:10 ESV) [10] Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome,
or a verse that is really confusing taken out of context like:
(Mark 12:5 ESV) [5] And he sent another, and him they killed. And so with many others: some they beat, and some they killed.
or
(Luke 9:60 ESV) [60] And Jesus said to him, “Leave the dead to bury their own dead. But as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.”
Just to mix things up a bit…
Well, those beat…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMbw4G0TmUQ
My favorite verse would be Matthew 28:6.
I suppose one persons crumb would be another’s meal.
My favorite verse(s) is/are the one/ones that have most recently pulled me through a crisis. God is so faithful.
My favorite verse has always been 1 Chronicles 26:18, in the KJV or NASB.
“At Parbar westward, four at the causeway and two at Parbar.”
Can anyone say amen?
Cherry picking passages out of context might make one a little uncomfortable…
Ezekiel 23. Wow.
I remember making the youth memorize that verse back at Northbrook.
Dasrin?
Parbar sounds like something you might find near a golf course.
The Bible is not a smorgasbord that we can go through and pick and choose those things we like. I see those Bible Promise books that cherry pick the feel good verses of Scripture.
We have to accept the WHOLE Bible as God’s Word and as useful, but also as authoritative.
Those who simply pick and choose the parts of the Bible they like to get a blessing will never understand the majesty of God’s character and glory or the whole counsel of God.
That’s what I love about my Ecclesiastes verse. It reminds me that we need to study and understand the whole context to interpret passages.
One cannot simply rip a line and call it done.
If (!) my memory serves me, Dr. Jack McGorman, longtime New Testament professor at Southwestern Seminary, did NOT like red letter Bibles. He said that red letter editions gave the impression that verses spoken by Jesus were more authoritative than the black letter verses.
As for myself, I do not have a favorite verse, but I do have a life verse. I realize that may seem really old-fashioned; however, this verse has guided me throughout my years of service. It is 2 Timothy 2:2–“and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.” (ESV)
Mark
A life verse old fashioned?? How young are you? This is new fangled stuff to us old geezers 🙂
Mark
I have heard “Cactus” Jack MacGorman say that.
Like Bart, I can’t bring myself to select a ‘favorite’ verse – the attitude necessary to pick out preferred verses is not one I’m comfortable with. I do have a few verses I think are generally ignored or misunderstood, but that’s not at all the same thing. I do have a few I might call ‘most amusing’ = e.g. Job 16:3 (particularly in the NIV) makes me wonder if Job had a chance to listen in on blogging and other internet discussions.
I’m 65 years old. When I was a student at John Brown University (1967-71), students would often ask, “What is your life verse?” Actually, I believe it is good to have a life verse that gives your life direction. I’ve been teaching in seminaries or Bible colleges since 1976, so 2 Timothy 2:2 has served me well. I studied at Southwestern Seminary, and I’ve always been grateful for the professors who taught me there. I count myself a disciple of Dr. Cal Guy, and I’ve tried to impart what he taught me about missions to my students over the years.