Greetings to one and all, and God bless! Just wanted list some of my "favorites" for you. I'd enjoy hearing back from you with yours.
A verse I memorized long ago and have since claimed as my "life verse" is Philippians 3:13-14. Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
So much in this life is determined by our perspective. In the Christian life, the majority of the battles we face are fought and won in the mind (see for example 2 Corinthians 10:3-5; Romans 12:2; 1 Peter 1:13; Romans 7:23).This verse is one that God has used to consistently renew my perspective. You see, it doesn't matter what success I enjoyed yesterday. And it doesn't matter what failures have haunted me in the past. Today, I have an objective. And that is to PRESS toward the mark…of likeness to Jesus Christ. Brother James likes to say, "There's no momentum in the Christian life." What happened yesterday doesn't carry over. I believe it was D.L. Moody who compared the Christian life to riding a bicycle. Either you're moving forward or you're falling off – there's no standing still.
The Christian life is a process of continual growth. Read the entire passage in Philippians 3, and you'll see a description of Paul's dissatisfaction with where he was in the Christian life…and his ever burning desire to grow closer to and more like his Savior.
Favorite chapter – Psalm 119. It's 176 verses make it the longest chapter in the Bible. Of those 176 verses, only 2 do not mention God's word in one way or another. The lesson we are to learn is the importance of the word of God. It is essential! So read it, study it, sing it, dwell on it, live it, and preach it.
Favorite book. This is tough, but the book of Job comes to mind. To me, it's a fascinating book, and I am amazed by the fact that the oldest book in the Bible (it was written before Genesis) covers such a wide array of material – from creation to the end times.
How do people know it is the oldest book in the Bible? Who wrote the Book of Job?
ReplyDeleteElihu is believed to have been the penman (note the shift in the narrative to the first person - 32:6-7, 10, 15-17), though we know that the Holy Spirit is the author of all scripture (2 Peter 1:20; 2 Timothy 3:16).
ReplyDeleteThe Job of this book is often connected with either the Jobab of Genesis 10:29 or the Job of Genesis 46:13, though neither connection can be proven conclusively. He may not be either of them. If he is, I would tend to go with the Genesis 10:29 Jobab - we find Uz, the name of Job's hometown (Genesis 4:17), not too far away in the family line there, and I think the time frame matches well. Doesn't seem like it could be the Genesis 46:13 Job because that chapter is about how this guy went to dwell in Egypt with his dad and granddad - and no kids.
The first five books of the Bible were penned by Moses and would have been much later than this book of Job. It is probably the oldest surviving piece of literature in the world. (I seem to remember studying the Sumerians in history class, and they would have been contemporary with Abraham, whom Job seems to predate.)