If I had to guess, you probably spend time memorizing these types of “important” things in your life, right?
But here’s a question…how often do you spend time memorizing key verses of scripture that will remind you of God’s promises when life gets you (or a loved one) down?
I can tell you honestly my answer to the above question: never. But I know I should be.
Sometimes our priorities are a little off. I admit that I am guilty of that time and time again. And time again. And more time again. But lately I’ve been trying to reprioritize and put the most important thing (i.e. God) first. It’s not always easy to do. It’s downright inconvenient and highly uncomfortable from time to time. Who wants to cut things you really love to do (Facebook, TV, American Idol, music, Facebook, board meetings, charity work, parties, socials, Facebook, etc) out of your life to make time for things we really should be placing more towards the top of our list each day (bible reading, scripture memorization, praying, discipleship, teaching, mentoring, QUALITY TIME with family and friends, etc)?
My husband was really instrumental in my journey to start thinking about memorizing scripture. Notice I said thinking about, because I haven’t actually done it yet. ;) He was inspired by a wonderful sermon our pastor gave in church right before he retired. This really awesome pastor friend of ours talked about a man who memorized whole books of the bible while he was working a job that he didn’t find very intellectually challenging. Our pastor was inspired by his dedication. So was my hubby. So he came home that Sunday after church and said, “hey, I’m going to do that in 2013” and it's been neat to see God working in him and through him with this scripture memorization. And I've often thought, oh I should do that…but I just don’t have time. Plus my memory stinks about as much as my cooking, so there’s no way I’ll retain anything.
But enough excuses! I’m just being lazy and I can admit it. The radio station I work for recently began having us on air folk share a scripture verse weekly instead of daily…and I thought, hey, what a wonderful way to start memorizing scripture. If I have to keep repeating one verse all week on air, I’m bound to learn it by the end of the week, right? Not. Last week was the first week and I failed horribly. I got too busy to take time to remember it. I forget to write it down and refer to it often. So I thought, okay, I’m going to bring this challenge here to my blog and ask you to join me in my scripture memorization journey. We can keep each other accountable. Are you up for the task? I sure hope so, cuz I don't want to do this alone!
So this post kicks off a new weekly series where I will be sharing a verse each Monday and encouraging you to start memorizing it with me. I’ll share the background to each verse, so there is context, and I promise I will share some tips on the key ways to memorize scripture. These keys insights, of course, are gleaned from my husband’s own scripture memorization journey. But I won’t prolong this post any longer. This week I will just share the verse, next week I’ll begin overwhelming you with more details. So here we go.
Week 1 of our bible memorization journey….
1 John 4:16 – “And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him.”
Write it down, say it often and let’s see if we can commit it to memory by next Monday where we will start memorizing another verse. Are you with me on this journey? I sure hope so. I really don’t want to do it alone!
Beginning next week, I promise the picture to help you memorize will be much prettier and professionally designed!
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