There’s a great old joke that may be new to the youngest among us:
A man stops a musician on the sidewalk in New York and asks, “Sir, can you tell me how to get to Carnegie Hall?”
The musician answers, “Practice.”
How does a runner increase his speed? By practicing. How does a weight lifter become stronger? By lifting more weights. You improve your skills in every area by practicing, drilling, and rehearsing. The same is true for some aspects of the Christian life.
PRAY.
If you want to grow as a Christian, you certainly should pray. There is no substitute for time spent talking to your Father. Pray for others and yourself. Learn what Jesus taught and pray His way. Make a written prayer list and watch as God answers the things on your list!
STUDY THE WORD.
You should also study the Bible. Read it, listen to those who can teach you about it, and begin to understand this massive library of 66 amazing books. You can spend a lifetime discovering its truth and never learn it all.
READ THE WORD EVERY DAY.
Read the Bible daily. Younger Christians will usually be more successful reading the easier parts first. In the early days, don’t waste your time on things that are boring and hard to understand—not when there are so many exciting parts. But as you grow and mature, yes, learn to read the tough things too.
MEMORIZE THE AMAZING PARTS.
Finally: MEMORIZE. How long has it been since you memorized some beautiful string of words? I have to admit, it was the ease of memorizing lines as an actor that convinced me to memorize scripture (that, and watching my girlfriend-now-wife do it every week).
It is easy to look at two sentences and convince yourself that memorizing them can’t be done. (It’s too hard!) But if you were going to be in a play, you would think nothing of memorizing 45 minutes of dialogue. I used to do it all the time. And if you do that a few times, be honest with yourself: memorizing key scripture verses is not impossible. It just takes a little effort.
MEMORIZE THE PARTS THAT SPEAK TO YOU!
What do you memorize? Look for things that speak to you, verses that explode in your mind, changing the way you think on a topic. I also like the language to be well-written and as poetic as possible, so I primarily memorize from the New American Standard, the King James, or the New International Version. The more poetic (musical) and well-written, the easier it will be to memorize. When I began memorizing scripture, I started with verses on adversity. It made sense to me: everyone is going to suffer, and I wanted to be ready for it. I eventually memorized many verses dealing with lust, pride, laziness and many other topics.
A great source of easy-to-learn verses is the book of Proverbs.(Each of the 915 verses was written to be easy to memorize, recall, and share with others. By definition, a proverb is memorable, relevant, and quotable.)
Another source of great lines are the epistles, letters to early Christians. The five-chapter book of James includes about twenty verses that I have memorized over the years. Here are three from chapter one:
“Consider is all joy, my brothers, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance, and let endurance have its perfect result to that you may perfect and complete, lacking in nothing” James 1:2-4.
“Everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to become angry, for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God” James 1:19-20.
“If anyone thinks he is religious but does not control his tongue, then his religion is useless and he is deceiving himself” James 1:26.
Invest in yourself by memorizing scripture!
ΑΩ
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