I’m sure this has been done somewhere in the blogosphere before now, but I stole appropriated the idea from emailed devotional of Berry Simpson, a Midland City Councilman and fellow church member. He decided to look up all the verses in the Bible that corresponded to his birthday, which happens to be June 23. So he went through Scripture and pulled out all the chapters 6 and verses 23 to see if they had anything special to tell him. According to his research, there were only 21 out of the 66 books that had a 6:23 and, frankly, he was a bit underwhelmed by what those 21 verses had to say, overall.
I still think it’s an interesting exercise, but I decided to make it a little easier to carry out, so mine is limited to the four Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. My birthday is June 28 (close to Berry’s), and here are the verses that correspond to that month and day.
Matthew 6:28:
And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin.
Ah. A propitious start, with a pronouncement from the Messiah himself. Although he surely understands that I’m the last person he needs to caution about worrying about clothes, given my usual sartorial underachievement.
Mark 6:28:
…and brought back his head on a platter. He presented it to the girl, and she gave it to her mother.
OK, this one creeps me out. It refers of course to the beheading of John the Baptist at the behest of the revolting queen Herodias, a world class harpy.
Luke 6:28:
...bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.
Another one from Jesus. Um, this one’s a bit more meddlesome than the previous one, however.
John 6:28:
Then they asked him, “What must we do to do the works God requires?“
An interesting question posed to Jesus by a crowd which followed him around the Sea of Galilee. As usual, the answer is more simple than we expect: “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.”
What’s the real point of this exercise? Well, it’s whatever you want to read into it, but at the very least, it’s an interesting excuse to do a little Scriptural searching that you might not otherwise undertake. So give it a try (I’ve already confirmed that every day of the year will be found in at least one of the Gospels, so nobody gets shut out).
Oh, and for a bonus, take a look at your birthday chapter and verse in the book of Revelation. I’d reveal mine to you, except I don’t have one. Chapter 6 has only 17 verses.
Perhaps someone can point me to the Lost Verses of Revelation.
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I did this birthday meme a while back, I forget when. But I did not do the Revelation thing. Let’s see…
Now write what you have seen, what is, and what is to take place after this. (Rev 1:19)
So, I guess I have some writing to do.
I knew it sounded familiar. Sorry for not knowing who else to credit…
What a cool idea! And so timely–I was trying to come up with a new, fresh approach for bible study for the upcoming month just last week.
Let’s see….
“Since you have kept my command to endure patiently, I will also keep you from the hour of trial that is going to come upon the whole world to test those who live on the earth.” (Rev. 3:10–NIV)
Enough said. Glory to God.
Standing fast in His promises,
Sherry
Rev 7:7 “…Of the tribe of Simeon were sealed twelve thousand…” This is the part of the Bible that concerns me the most. I’d truly hate to be #144,001 standing in line at the pearly gates! 🙁
Gwynne, I hate to break it to you, but I’m afraid that you’re the wrong gender to be in the 144K to begin with, at least according to Rev 14:4.
Anyway, I think there’s another entrance for the rest of us! 😉
Credit is overrated. You did a more thorough job with yours anyway. 🙂
Credit is overrated.
Yeah, tell me that next year when performance reviews roll around. 😉
Wait, you mean I get a performance review for my blog? Doh! I’m in deep Abbye doo now.
😉
I suppose we get a performance review every time we look at the visitor stats. And, like in the real world, the results are rarely fair!
Eric, are you sure God is not just limiting the number of men to 144,000, but when it comes to women, the number is infinite? That makes a whole lot more sense to me. 😉
But you bring up a good point…Matthew 7:7 says “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” I plan to seek that other entrance you mentioned. 🙂
Hey, this sounds kind of like a Christian horoscope…Doh!
Hey, this sounds kind of like a Christian horoscope
With any luck (ha!) I can parlay this into a bigger marketing phenom than “The Prayer of Jabez” franchise.
Gwynne, there’s no possible response I can give that won’t get me in trouble with someone, so I’m just gonna keep walking and whistling…
Hmmm, how creepy. It’s like, the Bible is a cool book that instructs people to do things, so it’s like these random verse checkings are creepy and supernatural-y.
Mine is 1:11, and that would probably take a LONG time to sort through all 66 books for my 1:11s. I’ll let you know if it ever happens!