Ten Verse Challenge: Who's Up for It?

Randy Alcorn’s recent blog title, “10 Verses That Have Shaped Me,” caught my attention immediately. I was captured by the ten-verse construct, then challenged to attempt the same exercise.

Which10 Scriptures most concisely anchor my own faith? It has been a more time-consuming process than I anticipated. And many additional verses merit inclusion, but I was determined to stick to ten, so here goes.

1. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth (Genesis 1:1).

What better place to begin than … The beginning of it all. Before I could read as a child, my first Sunday school teacher told me that verse was true. I believed her. I still do. It is one of the first verses I memorized, and it is still one of the stones in my faith foundation.

2. For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life (John 3:16).

Growing up in a small country church in North Alabama, I was blessed with parents, a church family, and a community where the gospel was … well, it was The Gospel of Jesus Christ. My faith came easily. John’s verse about believing in Christ nurtured the seed already planted in my heart.

The public school I attended in the 1950s and ’60s also fed my faith. I well remember my fifth-grade teacher who sometimes offered incentives if we would stand and recite a Bible verse in front of the class. Ironic in today’s culture.

3. For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God (Ephesians 2:8).

I confess that at my preschool age, my mind had been bent toward salvation being dependent on what I did, how I thought, how I lived. But a few years later, at age nine, I accepted Christ into my heart as I better understood – and appreciated – Paul’s advice to the Ephesians.

4. I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me (Galatians 2:20).

Only as I grew in age and matured in faith would I outdistance a childish mindset in which Jesus had seemed like an “ordinary” superhero. Then came public school again! A local pastor came to our classroom and preached a sermon on Christ’s crucifixion. I was mature enough to grasp the horror of what Jesus endured to secure my salvation. A few of my classmates were saved that morning.

5. God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble (Psalm 46:1).

Psalm 46 is one of my favorite psalms. I depend on – and sometimes literally cling to – the psalmist’s message on the depth of God’s role as my refuge and the power of His strength. I am fully reassured when the writer says, “Therefore we will not fear,” despite whatever comes our way – floods, storms, chaos, or personal disasters. My faith is anchored in the One who created me and holds me in my journey on His earth.

6. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want (Psalm 23:1).

Psalm 23 is certainly one of the Bible’s most familiar passages and one that has brought peace and comfort to countless Christ followers through the centuries. For me, it has deep meaning because we had sheep on the farm where I grew up. As a teenager, I was the designated assistant to the professional shearer who came to the farm each spring. Dad and I would get the rowdy, bleating sheep corralled in the barn.

Next, I had to catch one, lift it up, set its rear end on the ground, legs sticking straight out, and hold it there while the shearer shaved off the thick coat of wool. I can vouch for the truth of what Isaiah 53:7 says when he compares a coming Messiah to “a sheep that is silent before its shearers.” Held in that awkward position, the sheep makes no sound.

7. How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers (Psalm 1:1).

“Caution!” That’s what this verse shouts to me. First, I am most fully blessed when I walk in close obedience to God’s counsel. And the deep well of His word instructs me in His good counsel.

Second, if I find myself standing “in the path of sinners,” I’m on the wrong path. Time to change directions. Third, if I am guilty of gossiping or dissing other believers openly and ungraciously, I’m out of God’s will for His child.

8. Establish my footsteps in Your word, and do not let any iniquity have dominion over me (Psalm 119:133).

Ever since my pastor preached on Psalm 119:133-135 decades ago, these words have been a prayer I pray almost every day. It reminds me that I must depend on Father God daily if my relationship with Him is secure.

The prayer goes on to plead, “teach me Your statutes.” Every time I pray it, it calls me again to embrace the reality of my dependence on God if I am to live according to the gospel.

9. No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it (1 Corinthians 10:13).

Just prior to this verse, Paul warns us against thinking we are strong in our own power. Then comes this precious promise to every believer who struggles with any temptation to sin, “small” or great. Gossip? Out of control health discipline? Entertainment choices? Time in the Word? Addictions? Ungodly language habits? Stretching the truth? Outright lies? Sinful fantasies?

After many decades now, this verse still reminds me to call on God’s help to resist any temptation to wander away from His provision for how I am to honor Him with my life.

10: He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God (Micah 6:8)?

Major themes in Micah include judgment and forgiveness. Our Creator God, the Judge who scattered His people for their sins, is also the Shepherd-King who in covenant faithfulness, also gathers, protects, and forgives them.

When six of my selections were from the Old Testament, I was a bit surprised. However, the same principles are reinforced often throughout the New Testament. Jesus’s Sermon on the Mount and the authors of all the epistles return to these themes again and again. Administer justice (in both positive and negative application). Love kindness (acts of charity and caring for others). Live humbly (abandon prideful ways or self-serving glory).

The gospel in its briefest expression is “Repent and be saved.” Once we’ve done that, our covenant with God calls us to obedience: be just, kind, and humble – a worthy goal for every Christ follower.

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