You may have been there too. You’re in a small group setting at church, and everyone is asked to share their name and a little about themselves.

“Let’s go around the room. Say your name and where you’re from. Also, share your life verse.”

“Life verse.” I don’t know exactly what age I was when I first encountered the suggestion to have a life verse.

According to an article on Crosswalk.com, a ‘life verse’ is “A Bible verse that a Christian believes to be specifically representative or predictive of his or her life.”

If you are reading this and you already have and know and can recite your life verse, I want to applaud you.

Yet there may be others reading here who don’t have one yet. It’s possible if you’re anything like me, you were almost like that kid at the ice cream parlor. You have a hard time picking just one favorite.

It’s to that person I want to speak. First, it’s okay if you do not yet have a life verse. God did not directly command every Christian to “go get a life verse.” Next, it’s okay to have a few life verses.

Then, it’s okay for your “life verse” to change over time, as the seasons of life change. For a long time, my life verse was found in Psalm 1. During another period of my life, it was John 10:10 (“I have come that you may have life and life abundantly”).

Finally, it’s okay to have a familiar or even less predictable life verse. I know some people whose life verse is something familiar, like Jeremiah 29:11 (Yes, they know God was speaking to Jeremiah, but they find special hope and meaning in that verse). I know others who have chosen a more obscure verse, maybe found in a minor prophet or New Testament epistle.

To every Christian, though, I would say there is great comfort in seeking God through His Word so much that a life verse rises to the top. Spend time praying about this, pondering and seeking. Whether in your daily Bible readings or during a sermon or other time, pray and ask God to show you a verse you.

Why do we do this? Not so we have a fancy answer when we are asked in a group. Not even so we can have a better social media profile. But we do this so that we can even more effectively grab hold of God’s Word; or more importantly, God’s Word can get a better hold on us.