Go deep to keep from strangling someone!

I gave up memorizing Scripture years ago because I’d made it into a legalism. I worked hard at getting every word right, but I never turned it over in my mind. But then certain passages became near and dear to me, and I couldn’t resist. I’d studied their structure and how they fit together. I’d meditated on them and entered into them. Certain phrases rolled off my tongue with fondness. 

Without realizing it, I’d engaged in the three keys to memorizing that Dallas mentions elsewhere: repetition, concentration (focus), and understanding. Finally, I decided to embrace Colossians 3:1-17 because it pictured who I wanted to be. So on a lark, as I sat in an almost empty shuttle bus for a thirty-minute ride, I faced the window and began memorizing it. It began making even more sense to me! I noted phrases that still puzzled me so I could study them further. It was as if my mind finally gave in to my heart, which loved the ideas expressed in this passage and wanted them to be a description of who I was becoming. 

TODAY’S EXPERIMENT - Please resist skipping this experiment. A passage of Scripture that is relatively easy to memorize is 1 Corinthians 13. If you’ve been to a few weddings, you’ve almost got it. Once you know it, you can enjoy it as a description of God (patient, kind) and of life in the kingdom (seeing dimly now, face-to-face soon!) while you’re doing yard work or waiting in line at a store. 

Before trying to memorize it, however, read it slowly—maybe every day for a week or several times a day. Print it out and carry it around with you. Relish the words and ideas. See how they fit together. Notice progressions. Picture the people you know who embody these verses. Picture God’s love for you. Get so familiar with the passage that it would be difficult not to memorize it. 

Perhaps you could give just verses 4-7 a try. They begin with two “is” statements: patient and kind. These are followed by six “does not/is not” statements: envy, boast, proud, rude, self-seeking, easily angered. These six flow back and forth from inward (envy, proud, self-seeking) to outward (boast, rude, easily angered). They’re all about self-preoccupation. 

Then come the two more complicated phrases: no record of wrongs, not delighting in evil but rejoicing in truth. Then the passage ends with the four “always” phrases (first and last begin with p): protects, trusts, hopes, perseveres. This last set has become a quick prayer for me when I’m in a business meeting and want to strangle someone. I pray that I may always protect, always trust, always hope, always persevere. [Previous posts: https://restfuljourney.blogspot.com/2020/12/renovation-of-heart-is-absolutely-mind.html ]