In the account of Noah's Ark, found in Genesis 5-10, God gives Noah a sign; a rainbow, His covenant to all men that he would never again flood the entire earth. The word covenant is used in scripture over 270 times, the word promise is used over 100 times. When we are in the midst of a trial in our lives, sometimes it is the hardest time to recall the promises of God; however, this is the time when it is most important to remember what God has promised to us, especially if you are His child.

Something I have found to be a huge blessing to me, is really studying the message of hymns or biblicaly inspired songs that we sing, or hear on the radio on a daily/weekly basis. It is my hope to use this blog as a way of sharing the lyrics to songs that have been a blessing to me, and how they have blessed me and reminded me of a promise given by God, and in turn be a blessing to others.

Thursday, October 27, 2011

Do you memorize Scripture or words?

This actually ties in with my previous post a little, so forgive me if I repeat myself. It was brought to our attention in the message in Chapel yesterday, that many of us have memorized many verses that are simple yet applicable in many circumstances. As a child, we may have had verses to memorize in Awana, or some church kids club, Sunday School, VBS, etc. Throughout my life, I have been very good at memorizing verses, I could rack up a lot of points in VBS for memorization, and always had my verses memorized for Sunday School. Now that I am older, I look back at the 'memorization' I have done, even in my teen years, and I realize one distinct problem with it. I didn't really memorize what the verse said, just the words. What do I mean by that? Most of us know John 3:16, so I will use that as an example; 'For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.'
When asked to recite the verse from memory, I can say it in a split second. I can say it fast, or slow. I could almost say it backwards, lol. But what is the point of memorizing scripture? So that we can impress others with our keen knowledge of the bible, or so that we have God's word hid in our hearts to give us a way to fight against temptation? When memorizing scripture, I believe that the consideration for the purpose of the memorization should be kept in mind, especially as adults. Some people make it a goal to memorize one verse a week, or something like that. Which is GREAT!! But the memorization isn't going to do anything for them, if they don't really think about what the verse says over the words that compose it.
So, going back to John 3:16. If we break it up, what does the verse say? 'For God so loved the world...' God loves each and every one of us with such great love. There is a quote I heard in a class a couple weeks ago from Augustine that says 'God loves each of us as if there were only one of us.' So, what did he do with that love? '...He gave his only begotten Son' God loves us so much, that he sent his only Son to earth, to become a man and live among us, to teach us about God, then ultimately to be crucified on a cross to pay the penalty for OUR sins. Why did God do that, because he loves us, and 'that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.' God loves us so much, that he sent his only Son, to die for our sins, so that those of us who believe in him can have eternal life!!! What great Love? God, the creator of the universe, loves us, such little insignificant creatures that occupy earth!!! WOW, but how many of us, when reciting that verse from memory, really think about what it means? Personally, I know I'm guilty of not paying attention to the real meaning of many verses I've memorized.
The message yesterday was on Phil 4. The speaker was talking about this, and brought up Phil. 4:13 'I can do all things through Christ, which strengtheneth me.' Do we as Christians, make a practice of living life with that in mind? Are we 'anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer...make[ing] [our] requests known unto God'?

I hope this little thought has been an encouragement to you. If you would like to share, I would love to hear what God has done in your life, or how this post has been an encouragement to you.

Love in Christ,
Jen
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