RECIPES FOR LIFE: WHAT ARE YOUR FAVORITE VERSES?

What does your favorite Bible passage say about your life and about the Savior you follow? That’s what we’ve been asking our Back to the Bible family to share with us. Your stories about leaning on God and His Word are powerful ways to encourage and motivate others to do the same!

When you think about it, it’s like sharing a tried-and-true recipe. If you can say, “This apple pie recipe is delicious and works every time”, others are much more likely to try it for themselves.

Likewise, when you tell others how God’s Word has guided you through unexpected changes or momentous challenges, people are drawn in to listen and consider how the Lord’s mighty work in your life might apply to theirs as well!

That’s why we are excitedly collecting stories from people like YOU! We plan to use them in various ways in coming months as encouragement in growing closer to Jesus each day. Here is a wonderful example of how such stories will be featured!

READ: 1 John 3:16-18 By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.

REFLECT: Christ has commanded us to love our neighbors as ourselves and that we “love because He first loved us.” But knowing this and actually applying it from our hearts are two different things, unless you follow Doug’s example to put the love of Christ into action!

DOUG’S STORY

This passage inspired me to step out in faith in a way that seemed crazy at the time. It started through our church, which hosted weekly meetings for men who were close to being paroled from prison. It was there that I met Eugene, an incarcerated man who was a couple of months from being paroled. His closest relative was several hundred miles away, and he was having trouble finding a place to live after his release.

Knowing this, I felt compelled by the Holy Spirit to offer him our spare bedroom as a living option. I remember driving home one night thinking, “How am I going to tell my wife that I’m pretty sure God wants me to ask this guy (whom I met just a few weeks prior) if he wants to live with us after he gets out of prison?”

It made no “common” sense. Neither of us knew him well, we had young kids, and we had no experience doing this kind of thing! But 1 John 3:16-18 spoke loudly and the peace I felt about this decision seemed to confirm that it was directly in line with God’s direction for us. So, with Beth’s blessing, we asked, and Eugene accepted our off er. He became part of our family for about 4 months. Knowing that Eugene didn’t have transportation to get to his job and we were far from a bus stop, Beth “took it up a notch” - she was led by the Spirit to give him our old car!

To this day we remain friends with Eugene. We are thankful for how we were all brought together through Jesus who offers us an amazing life – a life that wouldn’t be possible if He hadn’t laid down His own for us.

1 John 3:16-18 makes it challenging, even difficult to flippantly say we appreciate what Jesus has done for us without taking action to back up our claim of appreciation. When I consider that Jesus willingly gave up His life so that I could choose eternal life—the best life—with Him, I quickly realize that I’d better be able to back up my talk with action! 

RESPOND: Lord, Your love is extravagant. You gave up everything so that I could know You and live forever with You. Propel me to move from loving merely in word or talk to loving others in deed and in truth, as You have loved me. Amen.

REVEAL: Pay close attention to what God is calling you to do and put it into action!

PS: Be sure to check out all of the great Bible teaching content at www.backtothebible.org or, from your mobile device, click this link GOtandem.