Scripture can provide a foundation that keeps us grounded and steady throughout our lives. While we ride the roller coaster of joy, grief, success and failure that life is sure to throw our way, we are invited to dwell on the truths we find written in the Word of God. Over the coming weeks, each blog team member will share a meaningful verse, parable or bible story that has served as an anchor throughout their lives. Perhaps it will inspire you to think of which scriptures have provided that stability for you as well.

Our theme for the CitySalt blog this season is “Life Verses”. We blog writers were asked to think of a verse, a parable, or a Bible story that is “the rock we have built our house on” as Jesus advised us to do in Matthew 7:25. It could be a challenge to come up with a life verse, couldn’t it? There are so many good ones! And truth be told, I couldn’t come up with just one, but if I put three together, that seemed most like the rock that gives me a foundation for my life and my faith.

Here are the three scripture passages that come together to form my rock:

Ephesians 3:14-21
For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge —that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

John 15:5, 8-11
“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.

John 15:12
My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.

Now I know there is a lot to unpack in these three passages, so I will summarize to make it simpler and hopefully clearer:

God’s love is absolutely gigantic and there’s nothing outside of it.
Because of God’s great love, if we choose to live in it by centering ourselves within it, we have access to all the love and power that God has.
If we love Jesus, we will follow his command which he made very clear:
LOVE EACH OTHER AS I HAVE LOVED YOU!

Wow, there’s a lot of love talk in there, isn’t there? Jesus states these things simply and directly, but we know by experience that living and doing all this love is not a simple, easy task. It truly does require God’s Spirit moving through us (1) to even see how to love and then (2) to follow through with the action of love. But as difficult and elusive as this task might be, we get to do it completely encompassed by the life-giving, powerful love of God. That seems like a pretty good deal to me and why these are my life verses.

About the Author

John lives in Pleasant Hill with his dog, Gunnar, and a multitude of guests who enjoy the peace and beauty of the Cascade foothills. With three children and three grandchildren all living in Oregon, he is continually blessed with their company and the good food that always accompanies their get-togethers!

I’m guessing it doesn’t come as much of a surprise to you when I say that there is a lot of mystery surrounding God. If God is truly God, the one who created the entire universe, then He is hugely bigger, wiser, stronger, more creative and more capable than we are or could ever be. Am I right about that? How could we possibly understand everything about Him: how He thinks, how He creates, what He plans, why He does what He does, how He breathes life into His creation? There are so many mysteries… and yet, in an amazing act of love toward us, He has given us at least SOME idea of who He is. He does this in three ways: the Bible, our experience of Him and what other believers throughout the ages share about their experiences with Him. With these three things, some common themes come to the surface and give us a bit of clarity about this great God of ours.

The question is often asked: if the Bible is the inspired word of God, why is the Old Testament so different from the New Testament? In some ways they seem to present a different God altogether. In the Old Testament books like Joshua and Judges, God can be seen as a punishing, vindictive, even blood-thirsty warrior and judge intent on wiping out pagan unbelievers. Sometimes not just the warriors of those nations, but even the women, children and animals. How could this be the same God that Jesus presents in the New Testament as the God of love who would ask us to even love our enemies? To turn and give the other cheek to one who slaps us? To be a peacemaker who will inherit the kingdom of God?

How about this possible explanation of why the two written Testaments of the Bible seem to present such different descriptions of God: Could it be that we have an over-zealous understanding of what it means that the Bible is “inspired by God?” What is inspiration and what does it mean when applied to the writing of the Bible? It is clearly stated in 2 Timothy 3:16-17 that “All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” Since the New Testament hadn’t even been written at the time Paul is writing this letter to Timothy, he must be referring to the Old Testament. Aiyaiyai! Does this mean God really is the punishing, killing Warrior God?

But wait. Jesus spent much of his teaching time in correcting, or reinterpreting what was said in the Old Testament. Remember in Matthew 5 when he says multiple times “You have heard it said, but I say…” It’s not just “do not murder,” it’s “do not even be angry with a brother or sister.” It’s not just “do not commit adultery,” it’s “do not even look with lust on a woman.” It’s not “an eye for an eye and tooth for a tooth,” it’s “do not resist an evil person. Turn to him the other cheek.” And it’s not just “love your neighbor and hate your enemy,” it’s “Love your enemy and pray for those who persecute you.”

Is Jesus saying that the Old Testament was not inspired? Or might he have been saying to read the inspired Old Testament like stories with a deeper, symbolic meaning, not necessarily a literal one. Maybe he was saying not to take all Scripture at face value, but rather as parables like he used a lot in his teaching. Remember how his disciples would get confused because Jesus taught in parables so often? Did he like to use parables because God truly IS so mysterious, and literal words don’t help us understand Him as much as pictures in our souls do and/or the inner witness of the Holy Spirit’s presence?

We humans are interpreting all the time. We can’t help it. It’s how we make sense of what we’re seeing, hearing, and experiencing. It’s not surprising that the writers of the Old Testament were writing what they understood. They were experiencing God in the middle of a culture of warfare, a time of kill or be killed. They were living in a time when child sacrifice was rampant in their part of the world. They knew they were set apart by a different kind of God, a good God, a powerful God. They knew they were special. They told their stories about God around their campfires as they moved around the deserts, mountains and valleys of the Middle East. They interpreted what happened to them as best they knew how from their worldview. And then eventually these stories were written down for us to read… thousands of years later in a very different culture!

What this shows us is that the people in Jesus’ time and before him had the propensity for misinterpreting the Scripture, just as all of us do. They were often missing the point. Sometimes we miss the point. So what is the point?

I believe it is summed up beautifully and succinctly in 1 John 4:16 “God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.” And in John 15:12 “My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.” And in John 15:14 “You are my friends if you do what I command.”

Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life. I’d put all my money on following HIS interpretation of Scripture and of the corresponding witness of the Holy Spirit that promises to lead us into all Truth. May my interpretation of Scripture, Old and New, always be submitted before these deep truths: God is Love! God loves me! God loves you! And God loves all that He has created!

About the Author

Words to Live By | The Rock I Stand On

Trusting Our Mysterious God | Mysterious God, Mysterious Bible

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