At the beginning of this year, when I was thinking about what I wanted to accomplish this year, one thing I desired to do was to make Scripture more important.
As a child, I participated in Bible Drill, we memorized Scripture and the books of the Bible and were drilled in memorization and in locating in the Bible what we had memorized. This practice set a wonderful foundation for me to use and build on later in life. In college, I also actively memorized Scripture with a friend who helped me be accountable.
Since college, I have let this discipline slip. I wanted to memorize longer passages of Scripture not just a verse here and a verse there. So, I decided to memorize 2 Timothy 1:7-14. But, I long to do more, so I was thinking about memorizing a whole chapter. But then Josh Harris on his blog gave a link to an article by Dr. Davis which discusses why and how to memorize whole books of the Bible. So, while I finish up (my now scrawny looking) 2 Timothy 1:7-14, I am praying about which book to memorize.
Honestly, it scares me just a little because a book seems like a lot to memorize. And, I struggle with prefectionism--if I can't do it perfectly, I don't want to even attempt to try. But, I am learning about grace and about where my acceptance and abilities really come from. So, with the Holy Spirit's help, I am going to work on memorizing a book of the Bible.
Hi, this is funny. I realize that I read a lot of the blogs you read. How is the memorization going? I read the article about memorizing the Bible a while back, and I went through Psalm 13 & Colossians 3 in the last two months, and I'm working through Psalm 16 and Hebrews 11 now. (Not that I know them perfectly!)
Psalm 13 because it's really spoken to my heart (how long, oh Lord?). Colossians 3 because our Sunday school was going through the Miracle of Life Change course, and Chip Ingram talked about putting off the old self and putting on the new. There are many things in my old self that still need putting off (anger, wrath, malice, etc.)
Hebrews 11 now because I realize how little faith I have. I'm learning more about faith by meditating on the people of old, who went through many trials and still believed in God's promises. I think about Noah, building a boat and preaching to people, probably being ridiculed as he waited decades for God's judgment.
Hope that you press on with the memorization!
Posted by: elde | Tuesday, April 04, 2006 at 04:53 AM
Hi Elde!!
Thanks so much for posting and spuring me on in the memorization. Since school has started back, I have kinda let this disciplne slip!!
Right now I am working on Psalm 103. I read it over and over while I was on my personal retreat in Feb.
I just love the way it reads in the Message. I don't usually use the Message for memorizing, but this time I am.
I am praying about what to memorize next. I just love hiding his Words in my heart!!
Looking forward to checking out your blog soon.
~in joy~
Posted by: amanda p. wu | Tuesday, April 04, 2006 at 11:41 PM