He said to the audience, “This is one of my favorite passages of scripture.” For some reason, those words that I have heard thousands of times before made me chuckle. I thought to myself, “Is one passage really better than another?” I mean, “If it is all God’s word, is one part really better than another?”

The unexpected answer is, yes.

Yes, some passages are better than others “at this moment for you.”

Depending on your life experience, the circumstances you are going through, the people who have influenced you, and the time in which you read it, some passages speak louder than others. The Bible is described as living and active (Hebrews 4:12). This means it is ever-changing as we read it. Each time we read, we see and hear new things. It speaks to us in different ways at different times.

There are moments when the word of God comforts us, and there are other times that it confronts us. It might reveal to us the love of God when we need it or the peace amid a storm. The words that touch our soul from its pages are many and varied. What speaks to you today may not speak to me. What God uses in your life today, may be different from what he will use tomorrow.

The word of God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. The flowers wither, and the grass falls, but the word of the Lord stands forever. His word is never changing, but your life moves with the seasons. With each new experience, God can say something new to you that you need to hear.

I don’t know if you have a favorite passage of scripture, but I hope you do. I pray that God has reached out to you through his word and gave you exactly what you needed for this time of your life. You then locked that passage away in your mind like a letter from a precious friend.

Having favorite verses is a sign not just that you are reading the Bible, but that God is working in your life through what you read. For that reason, I hope you have many favorite passages.