I recently wrote Scripture verses on small note cards for my daughter for daily/weekly encouragement. I purchased cards in a variety of colors and slipped each one in an unsealed envelope for easy access and reuse over time. Choosing the verses to include was more challenging than I expected.
I could have Googled lists of encouraging verses. I could have looked in the back of one of my Bibles for topical lists. But I wanted to be intentional. I try to be mindful of taking snippets of Scripture and losing the context. I think we do it too often. We like to quote the snippets that lend well to the point we’re trying to make or support the decision we’d like to rationalize. It’s in the Bible, so it’s truth, right? But we can lose a lot out of context.
Realistically, we can’t always repeat the full context. We can’t complete a full word study with each time of devotion or sharing with others. How can we be mindful of keeping context when time and space is limited? We can always remember never to limit our hearts, whether we are listening, searching, or sharing. As I was writing notes, I decided not to look for a theme and not even include only the most encouraging of verses. I determined to reflect truth the best I could. I prayed God would guide which verses to include, and I ended up in books throughout the Bible. I found many of the verses encouraging and challenging me as I wrote them. I wondered why I was including some of them, but I had no doubt there was purpose—through the search and writing, through the reading and remembering, through the wrestling with and living out.
Snippets should not only be sharable but livable. Let’s only snip according to God’s purpose instead of our own.
Pure Purpose 