Thoughts on Memorization

Deal with your servant according to your steadfast love, and teach me your statutes. I am your servant; give me understanding, that I may know your testimonies! It is time for the Lord to act, for your law has been broken. Therefore I love your commandments above gold, above fine gold. Therefore I consider all your precepts to be right; I hate every false way. Your testimonies are wonderful; therefore my soul keeps them. The unfolding of your words gives light; it imparts understanding to the simple. (Psalm 119:124–130)

Yesterday’s sermon was about hiding God's Word in my heart. I’ve never been able to do rote memorization. I struggle with focus and being easily distracted. However, the guest speaker memorized the entire NT so I listened carefully for ways to overcome that problem.

He was clear in all he said and gave tips, like go somewhere with no distractions. That is my challenge. My mind can come up with many distractions, even in a dark room without anything in it. Yet one tip helped: he said to attach memory practice to something I already do without prompting. It could be brushing my teeth, but better yet, I spend ten minutes each morning walking and singing worship songs. I can add memory practice to that.

The other problem is being pragmatic. He said it helped when tempted as verses needed would more quickly come to mind. Yet doesn’t the Holy Spirit do that? If I’m relying on my memory, that is one thing, but relying on the Lord is amazing. He answers my need with His thoughts. I am not certain memorization is the best way to rely on for resisting temptation. Desiring to obey seems more important than retention. I could be wrong, yet relying on the Lord seems less about what I know and more about what and who I am trusting.

The passage above elevates understanding before knowing, and loving God's commands above keeping them. Knowing them by memorization can happen without doing what they say. Doing what they say means I have them in my heart far deeper than just being able to recite them.

All that said, at the end of the sermon, two men stood up and after three months of memory work, they said the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) from memory. It was not only motivational, but mesmerizing, better than if they had read it.

Jesus, I am so in agreement with the psalmist. I love Your Word and challenged daily to do what You tell me through its pages. It makes me realize what I do not know and how wise You are. Thank You for the Holy Spirit who is an enduring and powerful gift to my memory.

Integrity is vital

At times I’ve tried to speak kindly to people that I don’t feel kindly toward. If another person always talks and never listens, I might act as if I care about all their stories but really don’t. If another person lies to me, I might be polite, but inside I’m not trusting them. If another person goes through the motions of paying attention but is not really listening, I often stop talking just to see what they will do.

I know that Jesus did not have this dual thing going on. He never sinned in pretense — to care when He didn’t because He always cared. He also knows what is in every heart and does not trust Himself to those who fake it. He deals in truth. As the NT says:

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. (John 14:6)

For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. (John 1:17)

And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life. (1 John 5:20)

Reading this shows the connection of inner character and outer behavior. If they do not match, then it is called hypocrisy or lack of integrity. Connecting that to ‘pretending to be nice’ means that I am not true to myself or to my inner feelings. The solution has two aspects.

One is to be true to how I really feel. Sometimes that is hurtful, but it can also be helpful — only if negative feelings are true about the other person and they are spoken in love like Jesus speaks. His words that expose my sinfulness are loving because He knows the destruction power of sin. He does not want me to go merrily about my bad attitudes so He speaks to me about them.

However, there are times when speaking to another person about their sin is not appropriate and it is better to talk to God about it and let Him deal with them. This means listening to the Holy Spirit to make sure I’m not being silent for the wrong reasons, such as fear of losing a friend.

When John wrote, “I rejoiced greatly to find some of your children walking in the truth, just as we were commanded by the Father” (2 John 4) he was likely referring to gospel truth and the ‘children’ mentioned had faith in Christ, confessed their sins, and were growing more like Jesus. What stands out to me is that he rejoiced in this. If my attitude of “walking in truth” makes people joyful, that is a good thing. Some will not respond this way though because the truth is: unbelievers will hate those who have faith even to persecuting Christians in various ways.

All of this applies to how I think of Jesus. I can say that I know Him and trust Him, but what do I really think? Several verses tell me that His name says much about Him besides that He is truth. He is also Immanuel (which means, God with us (Matthew 1:23) and Light, and the only Way to the Father. Do my thoughts and actions match? Can I hide anything in my head or heart from Him? Not only that, if I say He is “Master” or “Lord” but am not obeying what He commands, do I really think that my Christian words can hide my thoughts from Him? My actions will eventually reveal them because if I really think He is my Lord, I will do what He says. And one of the things He says is:

The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks. (Luke 6:45)

This phrase “the abundance of the heart” is not about the fleeting things that fly in to tempt me, but about what my mind dwells on. If it is not on Christ and on doing the will of God, it is apt to be my will and my way — which translates to selfishness and sinful disobedience. Trying to look good on the outside does not cut it if my heart is unkind or even nasty. This is just one way I can call Jesus Lord but not do as He says.

PRAY: Jesus, more and more I’m seeing how thoughts connect to actions and how they need to match. This is not just about negative junk that needs to be confessed, but about truth concerning You that needs to be shared. I need wisdom and discernment from You to match how I think with how I behave and how I respond to others.


 

The ultimate test for true faith

 

Google tells me there are more than 4000 religions in the world. Most of them claim they are true. Christianity also makes this claim based on the words of Jesus: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6)

Even so, there are people who claim to be Christian but live in sin, everything from sexual sin to larceny. In the early church, warnings were given against false teachers and those who claim faith but their actions did not match their claim. James wrote his epistle to confront “faith without works” saying that if a person believes in Christ, it shows in the way they live. He said:

Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world. (James 1:27)

These days, atheistic groups and secular governments have programs for needy people, but this verse does not make that the only criteria for true faith in Christ. It includes the element of purity before God, something available only to those who confess their sin and trust Christ alone for their righteousness. This shows up in a changed life. For instance, “Whoever says he abides in (Jesus) ought to walk in the same way in which he walked . . . . Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling. But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.” (1 John 2:6; 10–11)

This love is not the same as compassion or warm feelings. It is the same as the love of Christ that is sacrificial and acts out of reverence for God and for others. Without faith in Christ and a transformed life, the Bible is clear that the righteousness that God desires is impossible:

 . . . . (All) are under sin, as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one. Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive. The venom of asps is under their lips. Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood; in their paths are ruin and misery, and the way of peace they have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes.” Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin. (Romans 3:9–20)

These verses narrow the field considerably because anyone who isn’t saved through faith in Jesus Christ remains in bondage to sin and has no capacity to live a holy and selfless life. However, those who do have faith in Christ are filled with both hope and love: “And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” (Romans 5:5)

PRAY: Jesus, You make it clear who are Your children and who is following self-rule and Satan’s lies. Your Word says, “Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother. For this is the message that you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. We should not be like Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother . . . . We know that we have passed out of death into life because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death. Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.” (1 John 3:10–18) Dearest Jesus, increase my capacity to love others as You love me. I want the faith You give me be plainly seen and a blessing to everyone.

PONDER: Rather than comparing myself with those who do not know Jesus, think of the mature love I see in God’s people and rejoice at the power of God to change lives from selfishness to purity and to a visible and sacrificial love and righteousness that is demonstrated by obedience to You and caring for those who are needy.

 

 

Encouraged to trust and obey . . .

Numbers 24; Psalms 66–67; Isaiah 14; 1 Peter 2

Another couple and ourselves, sometimes joined with more parents, get together two times a month to pray for our adult children. Lately we have been studying and discussing what the Bible says about no answers. The psalmist speaks of one that is extremely important.

Come and hear, all you who fear God, and I will tell what he has done for my soul. I cried to him with my mouth, and high praise was on my tongue. If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened. But truly God has listened; he has attended to the voice of my prayer. Blessed be God, because he has not rejected my prayer or removed his steadfast love from me! (Psalm 66:16–20)

It is easy to avoid this issue. Instead of dealing with my own sin, I’ve Sometimes felt that God simply could not overcome human resistance in those I prayed for, but the Bible is clear on that excuse:

The Lord of hosts has sworn: “As I have planned, so shall it be, and as I have purposed, so shall it stand, that I will break the Assyrian in my land, and on my mountains trample him underfoot; and his yoke shall depart from them, and his burden from their shoulder.” This is the purpose that is purposed concerning the whole earth, and this is the hand that is stretched out over all the nations. For the Lord of hosts has purposed, and who will annul it? His hand is stretched out, and who will turn it back? (Isaiah 14:24–27)

God can do anything He wants to do!

Yet the most important part of answered prayer is living as God tells me to live. Obedience does not earn it, but disobedience can block it. For instance, some people I pray for have no respect for God or my faith, but I am not supposed to give them any reason for it . . .

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation. (1 Peter 2:9–12)

This passage goes on and applies to me right now in my attitude toward government rules and regulations during this pandemic. Even if I don’t like social distancing and staying home, the Bible says this:

Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God. Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor. (1 Peter 2:13–17)

The reasons? God uses humble obedience. He also can accomplish His purposes through calamity, the crucifixion of Jesus Christ is the greatest example. Who am I to say that God is not able to work through political leaders, even if they seem out of sync with what the world wants? Jesus Christ suffered for me, leaving me an example, so that you might follow in his steps. He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. (1 Peter 2:20–23)

APPLY: Putting this all together, God is sovereign, even in disasters. If I want my prayers answered, I must trust Him — even in disasters. He can do whatever He purposes to do. Obedience expresses my faith in Him. Disobedience dishonors Him and expresses the idea that I know better than God. This is rebellion and cherishes my own ideas above His — and if I do that, I am not going to have any prayers answered. The big picture is trusting the will of God even without knowing exactly what He has in mind — and keeping my own life free from sin and doubt as I do what He tells me. He says others will see it and glorify Him when He comes to visit their hearts and minds.