Basic Training
“I have stored up Your word in my heart,
that I might not sin against You.”
—Psalm 119:11
In the military, all soldiers go through basic training. Basic training is the physical and mental exercise whereby men and women are trained to be soldiers. Each soldier learns the fundamentals of being a soldier, combat techniques, and how to relate to authority. The goal is to train a soldier, making these skills second nature, and when combat comes, instinct takes over producing a soldier who knows how to correctly handle him or herself.
For the Christian, scripture memorization operates in a very similar way. By memorizing God’s word, we are storing up His word in our heart, much like a soldier going through training. By repeating, meditating, and committing it to memory we are trained to handle times of temptation and we don’t even need to think about our response when the time comes. Our spiritual training takes over.
I hope that all of us commit to hiding God’s word in our heart, so that we might be good soldiers of the cross, saying “no” to sin, and “yes” to God. It is for our joy to do so—because it helps keep us from sinning and enables us to live the life that is pleasing in the sight of God. Amen.
that I might not sin against You.”
—Psalm 119:11
In the military, all soldiers go through basic training. Basic training is the physical and mental exercise whereby men and women are trained to be soldiers. Each soldier learns the fundamentals of being a soldier, combat techniques, and how to relate to authority. The goal is to train a soldier, making these skills second nature, and when combat comes, instinct takes over producing a soldier who knows how to correctly handle him or herself.
For the Christian, scripture memorization operates in a very similar way. By memorizing God’s word, we are storing up His word in our heart, much like a soldier going through training. By repeating, meditating, and committing it to memory we are trained to handle times of temptation and we don’t even need to think about our response when the time comes. Our spiritual training takes over.
I hope that all of us commit to hiding God’s word in our heart, so that we might be good soldiers of the cross, saying “no” to sin, and “yes” to God. It is for our joy to do so—because it helps keep us from sinning and enables us to live the life that is pleasing in the sight of God. Amen.
Your blog is well written and I enjoy reading it. Having read the Bible cover-to-cover a couple times, examining various portions in religious school, I still find it nearly impossible to memorize specific passages. What are your suggestions? I find, that in this hectic world when our responsibilities are increased and our time spread too thin, having time to read the Bible is scarce - let alone memorize it!
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, CM, thank you for reading. I consider it a great honor for you to stop and read my blog, much more comment on it. So, once again, thanks. Secondly, I completely agree with you, reading is hard enough, and if we can't get that in, how can we memorize it? I am not an expert in memorization, but I do have a very good memory, so if I find that if I read something over and over, it sticks with me very well. I may not remember chapter and verse, but I can give you a very good idea where it can be found. However, I've found that there is no one-size-fits-all way of memorizing. There are several ways.
ReplyDeleteI know some who make up little cards and put them on a key chain. I know others who write them on 3 x 5 cards and carry them around. I know others who place them in places they frequent in their house (i.e. in the bathroom mirror when they are getting ready in the morning, the kitchen cabinets, refrigerator, on top of the TV, and on the dash of the car). I know of one guy, who purchased a very old book on how to memorize and he learned to employ certain hand gestures for different verses or sections of Scripture.
For example, for the first of the Ten Commandments, he pointed upward with one finger and said, "One God." That's the first commandment. For the second, he put up two fingers and said, "Two words: No Idols." For the third, he put up three fingers and said, "Three words: Honor God's Name." Fourth Commandment had four fingers and four words: "Remember God's Holy Day." Pretty good, so far, eh? Next it is the fifth commandment and it has five fingers and five words: "Honor Your Father and Mother." It is at the sixth where things get to be fun. Using the index finger and thumb, make a gun, like you are going to shoot someone and then say, "Thou Shalt Not Kill." Then for the seventh take your index finger and place it begin the thumb and your middle finger. And say, "thou shalt not commit adultery." For my kids, I say, "No one comes between Mommy and Daddy." The index finger showing that someone is trying to get between me and my wife. For the eighth commandment we kept our fingers in the position for the seventh and then pretend like those same fingers are trying to snatch something and then say, "Thou shalt not steal." For the ninth, I place my hand over my mouth and say, "thou shalt not bear false witness." And for the tenth I cover my eyes and say, "Thou shalt not covet." Or as my daughter says, "Thou shalt not cover it."
This is just a sampling. I memorize better than most, but I am always needing help in this are and try to come up with creative ways to memorize. For some, it's very natural, such as myself, but for my wife, she has a much harder time memorizing. She doesn't get near as much time in the Word as I do either, so whatever creative means she can use to memorize helps. Whether that be through associating actions with words, memorizing worship music on the radio that comes straight from Scripture, or simple mnemonic devices, its important to remember a few things: that there is not one set way, everybody is different, try different ways to memorize, and be persistent and consistent.
I hope that I didn't dump the theological dump truck on you! I hope it helps and thank you again for reading! Blessings!