The Beauty of a Life Verse

I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him until that day. (2 Tim. 1:12 NIV)

For some believers, a particular Bible verse shines with personal meaning. We often call this a “life verse.”

My life verse is 2 Timothy 1:12. I learned it not from the modern New International Version translation above, but from an old hymn, “I Know Whom I Have Believed.” Its refrain lyrics are based on the King James Version: “I know whom I have believed / and am persuaded / that he is able / to keep that which I’ve committed / unto him against that day.”

A life verse can jump out at you from a song, Scripture reading, devotional, or simply because it seems to crop up everywhere you look. I’ve even seen a quiz you can take online to find one. For me, that hymn’s melody was a favorite as I sat in the Methodist church pews of my childhood. Sometimes on Sunday nights we could shout out the page number of a song in the hymn book we’d like to sing, and from time to time my mother let me make a request. “I Know Whom I Have Believed” (or “believ-ed,” as we sang it), often made the cut. The words spoke to me when we sang it several times a year, and they speak to me still.

If a verse does seem to pop up somehow, maybe God has chosen it for us and hopes we’ll catch on. Or maybe we seek a life verse because we think it would be great to have one. How ever we find and adopt life verses, whatever the reason we end up with them, and however we use them as a testimony to how God works in our lives, I think their simple beauty lies in how they can allow us to more deeply focus on and be anchored in our faith.

In 2 Timothy 1:12, the apostle Paul is telling Timothy he entrusts for safekeeping all he has committed to the Lord and his ultimate promises. The verse, of course, belongs in its entire context, within everything Paul is trying to communicate. But even alone it speaks to the faith I want to—and sometimes struggle to—maintain: to believe and be confident that no matter what happens, God is able and willing to guard my trust in him and be faithful in his promises. That’s the focus and anchor that means the most to me when the world seems to turn upside down.

Just as the Scriptures are full of life verse possibilities, however, believers have a variety of needs that can draw them to a particular scriptural message. Some need faith, some need hope, some need courage, some need comfort, and some need guidance and wisdom. Humans’ needs are endless, but so are the inspiration and direction in God’s Word. And though my life verse has remained the same for many years, I’m sure a life verse can change as personal needs change.

You may never have heard of a life verse but are intrigued by the idea. Or maybe you don’t think a life verse is necessary to fully live out your faith. I can’t say my life verse is absolutely necessary to my faith. But I believe it is a thing of beauty, and that through it God provides a particular and personal focus and anchoring when I need it most.

I know.

I believe.

I’m persuaded.

You, Lord, are able.

Perhaps, if you don’t already have one, God has a life verse for you.

Jean Kavich Bloom is a champion coffee drinker and mostly productive, pink-bathrobed freelance editor and writer. She does not garden, bake, or knit but says playing Scrabble is exactly the same thing. Jean and her husband, Cal, live in Indiana. They have three children (plus two who married in) and five grandchildren. You can read her blog at bloominwordstoo.blogspot.com.