Many years ago—I honestly cannot recall how many—this verse became my “life verse.” A life verse—for me, at least—is that passage of the Bible that I use as true north in my spiritual life, on which I hang my hat, or simply claim as the guiding principle by which I strive to live my life.
For me, this is not a “Janis Joplin theology” (“O Lord, won’t you buy me a Mercedes Benz; my friends all drive Porsches, I must make amends”), a belief that God will give me anything and everything that I want. Rather, this is a simple reminder to me to do what I can, all I can, to orient my life around God and my daily quest to live my life in right relationship to Him.
Will I get everything that I want if I do this? Golly, no. I still don’t have six-pack abs, I do not drive a Hummer, my lawn is still filled with weeds, and the tinnitus has yet to leave my ears. (I DO have a trophy wife and great children and grandson!)
But day by day, seeking and striving, even as I fail and fall, but still getting up and giving it another try to live in right relationship with God, I find that the values of Jesus become more and more the values of Chuck.
I believe that if I put a right relationship with God as the number one priority in my life, then everything else will fall into place.