Memorization

So my friend Jeremy wrote a couple of blogs on the topic of memorizing Scripture. Basically he talked about he hadn't memorized Scripture since he was a kid and wanted to work on it. I thought about it and decided it would be a good idea for myself as well. However, I could not get the motivation to begin (as terrible as that might sound, it is true). So my wife and I were talking a few weeks back and she suggested a contest. She wanted to lose weight but didn't necessarily have the motivation to do so. So if we made it a competition against each other, perhaps the competitive edge will kick in and we'd be able to accomplish our goals. Nothing like a competition between husband and wife to accomplish goals...All that to say, is I have to memorize the book of James. I laid out a plan which would have me memorizing the book by the first part of December. That seems like a long time, but then it forces me to learn small chunks at a time and continously review the stuff I should have memorized already. So far I am up through the first chapter of James.

My observations thus far...

• Memorizing Scripture is not as hard as I thought it would be. It takes time and great discipline, but it is not impossible.
• While memorizing Scripture, God has a funny way of challenging me with what I am memorizing. For instance, Danielle came home from vacation in Colorado a couple of weeks ago but left her keys up there. My normal reaction was to freak out and have a meltdown in anger - yet "My dear brothers take note of this: everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry for man's anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires" popped into my head. Wow - it has served a purpose to memorize!
• The book of James is extremely useful for daily living.

So I encourage you in the pursuit of memorizing Scripture. Its totally worth the effort!