Monday, August 8, 2011

N Pines (2) Memory Work

I am very grateful for the kind comments posted on my last blog. As I reflect on this past week a couple of things have happened.

While I was teaching the beatitudes (Matt. 5:1-10) I suggested that we might memorize them. Because they are so compact and comprehensive, summing up the essentials of Christian living, they serve as a continual reminder of what really matters for daily living. Several people commented they were trying to memorize them (though at least one said it was a stretch). I committed myself to memory work too. Of course, it was easier for me because I was preaching them anyway!

However, both yesterday and today I had two experiences. Totally unbidden and therefore all the more surprising, I suddenly found myself going through the beatitudes line-by-line. Slowly and carefully. Not only did this memory work jolt me (one occurred while on the gym elliptical machine!) but I found different implications from the teaching last week came flooding back. I don't know how often the beatitudes will continue to interrupt me in the future, but I must testify that it has been an important influence on these last two days. Does anyone else have similar experiences with memorized Scripture 'interrupting" life?

1 comment:

AndrewG said...

A year or so ago I started using the "Fighter Verse" scheme from John Piper's church in Minneapolis for Bible memory. It was years since I'd tried to memorise the Bible. I also started walking to work (30 mins each way) which I discovered was a fantastic opportunity to memorise verses. It so happens that the scheme from 2010 has you memorising Matt 5-7. I really benefitted from that, and would recommend it to anyone.

http://www.hopeingod.org/resources/scripture-memory/fighter-verses