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 December 16, 2003
Sometimes I think the more I learn, the less I really know… Maybe it’s just that the more I learn, the more I realize how much more there is yet to learn.
My Bible study group is currently studying 1 Peter. As I was preparing for last week’s lesson, I read 1 Peter 2:15: “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.” Those words reminded me of a dream I had a few months ago…
In my dream, I was sharing my faith with a non-Christian friend. I had many wonderful things to say about God… about how much God loves me, about his desire that I have a personal relationship with him, about Christ’s death on the cross for my sin.
As I shared these wonderful truths, my friend challenged me to prove to him that these things were actually in the Bible. I could easily point to John 3:16 and show him that God loves him. And I even pointed to Romans 8:38-39, showing him that nothing can separate us from God’s love. But as I tried to show my friend that these things have been written in the Bible so that we may know Jesus Christ and find life in him, I couldn’t locate the verse. I thought it was somewhere in the book of John, but as I flipped through the pages, I couldn’t find it anywhere. It wasn't even listed in the concordance at the back of my Bible. I was so frustrated! Even now, using the Internet to look up this verse, I found it incredibly frustrating to find the exact one I was looking for. Here it is:
“But these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that by believing you may have life in his name.” John 20:31 (NIV)
I woke up from my dream feeling incredibly frustrated that I couldn’t do a better job of sharing my faith with someone. After all, 1 Peter 2:15 tells us to “be prepared” — and preparation requires that work be done in advance. I need to know how I would share my faith with someone before the opportunity even arises.
I generally know my way around the Bible, but I realized that I don’t know the Bible as well as I could. My strategy to solve this problem is to start memorizing scripture. I know I have been encouraged to do so a million times before; and through the years I have memorized a verse here and a verse there. Now I plan to systematically learn key verses so that I am prepared to answer the questions from my dream: What do I know about God? And, does scripture agree? I got out my Bible and found these answers from God’s Word.
What do I really know? I know that God loves me.
- God loves me and wants me to live with him forever. John 3:16 — For God so loved the world that He gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. (NIV)
- Nothing can separate me from God's love. Romans 8:38-39 — For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (NIV)
- God loves me with an everlasting love. Jeremiah 31:3 — The Lord appeared to us in the past, saying: “I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving-kindness.” (NIV)
- I can find God. Proverbs 8:17 — I love those who love Me, and those who seek me find Me. (NIV)
I am excited that God has stirred this desire in me. Once I have these verses down pat, I’ll search for others to memorize. As a Christian, I need to be prepared to give a reason for my hope in Christ. And I want to be able to back that up with truths from God’s Word.
These are the verses that I picked to memorize. Which verses would you choose?
article by Cindy Sandsness |
