Words to Live By

by Jason and Jessica

This entry is going to be a little different than the ones previously. We'll go a little bit more spiritual with this one. We'd like to share our life verses and some thoughts we have about them and why we made them such. Since I'm starting I guess I'll go first. My life verses are Isaiah 49:1-2, "Listen, O isles unto me; and hearken, ye people, from far; The LORD hath called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name. And he hath made my mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of his hand hath he hid me, and made me a polished shaft; in his quiver hath he hid me;" My attention was first brought to these verses when I heard a sermon by Dr. Jack Schaap at Youth Conference 2004. He preached a sermon entitled "Polished Shaft" in which he compared the work of God on the life of a young person as the work one would put into forming a shaft for an arrow. The most special of those arrows were known as polished shafts. At the time that I heard that sermon I had already been dealing with the Holy Spirit and the work of God on my life. I had also been dealing with taking a stand alone in my youth group. It was there that I decided that I would yield to God in His working in my life and I would let Him form me into a polished shaft for His use to do great things. Isaiah 49:1-2 became my life verses.

(This is Jessica here) Well, I guess I don't really have a life verse, but then I guess I sort of do. It's Psalm 104:33, "I will sing unto the Lord as long as I live: I will sing praise to my God while I have my being." I guess the reason that I like this verse is because of all the singing and music I've been involved in at my church growing up - this verse reminds us why we do all that. We don't sing or get involved in things like a bus ministry so that others will see us and think "Gee, they're a talented person" or a "good person," we do it all to praise God and give glory to Him. I think a lot of times we get so wrapped up in what we're doing and what other people think of what we're doing that we forget the main reason we're doing it all! It's that little thing called pride - we have to make sure everyone knows when we're doing something good and how good we're doing it. But when I look back at this verse it reminds me that I'm not "singing" unto "others," or "people," or "friends," or "critics," I am 'singing' unto the Lord. So He is really the only one who matters!