Why I'm not memorizing the Bible

Yes, you read that correctly. I’m not being sarcastic–it is possible for Bible memory to be a stumbling block for Christians.

Bible Bee opened my eyes and taught me something about myself: I was capable of memorizing huge portions of Scripture. Before 2009, I struggled getting through my one verse a week for school. After the 2009 National Bible Bee, I began memorizing verses, chapters, books "for fun" during my personal devotions. I learned so much and developed a love for Scripture unlike anything I had ever known. Yet at the same time, I began falling into the dangerous trap of turning Bible study into an academic exercise.

Eager to learn more, I continued to keep a vigorous memory schedule during the months I was not participating in Bible Bee. Last year, as a 10^th grader, I made it my goal to have the entire New Testament memorized by the time I finished college. I figured out approximately how many verses I needed to learn per month and fulfilled my quota. If I continued my plan, I would have all but two epistles memorized by the end of the school year. I could definitely do this.

The past few weeks have been extremely busy for me. School and extracurricular activities all managed to coincide their deadlines. In between a few hours’ sleep and a cup of coffee, I continued my memory work, loving the Word but struggling to keep up.

My mom had warned me before not to speed-memorize the Bible. We’re supposed to meditate on it. Feed on it. Not just slurp it down. I justified my method, feeling that the constant read, memorize, review that I did every single day was anything but speedy.

Then, I realized I had fallen into the trap. Bible memory was becoming something I do. It’s not supposed to be that way. It’s supposed to be God working in us, not cramming facts into our minds as a mental exercise. God still worked in me as I crammed the facts, but I was so busy "just getting through" that I didn’t leave time to listen to Him.

Here are a few "traps" that I fell into:

• I love challenges.  I enjoy training my mind to do something new and love the thrill of accomplishing it.
• I’m being a good Christian.
• We’re supposed to meditate on His Word day and night, so the more words knew the better. Forget the quality as long as there’s quantity.
• I want to do well at Bible Bee. Memorizing more would give me a better foundation when competition season starts.
• I do everything fast (well, not when I’m driving. Apparently I’m too slow then...). Talking, reading, playing piano–everything’s best at top speed. Naturally, Bible memory also became a game to see how quickly I could memorize.
• And, of course, there’s that little giant called pride. It makes me feel good to know how devoted I am to the Bible (obviously there’s a problem with that. It’s called self-justification. It doesn’t work. Memorizing words won’t save you, but meeting the Word will).

I’m going to continue studying and memorizing Scripture, but I think I will change my goal. Rather than aim for memorizing huge hunks of the Bible, I’m going to slow down and focus on each individual verse. I’ll keep reviewing old verses; hopefully, I will fully learn them! Oh the depth of the riches–who can fully know the glorious mysteries of Christ? When Bible Bee starts, I’ll do more new memory work again, but for now, I think I will slow down and learn to quiet my heart and meditate on the wonder of God. Eventually, I would like to have the whole New Testament–or, Lord willing, the entire Bible–memorized, but for now, I will slow down and take it verse by verse, step by step; always pressing toward the goal, but not being consumed with the prize; running steadily with endurance rather than running quickly and stumbling.

Are you broke?

Recently, my sister was reading the forum board at a Christian college. Someone posted the question, "Why don’t we talk about sin in chapel?" Someone else posted back, "We do, but now we call ‘sin’ ‘brokenness.’ The word was changed back in 1979–you can check the chapel records."

Quick background information: This college always talks about the effects of sin (AIDS, poverty, racism, etc.) but often avoids talking about the cause of sin. So the question "Why don’t we talk about sin?" was really saying, "This world is subject to so many problems...let’s talk about them over coffee."

The answer to the question, though rather sarcastic, brought up a really good point. People today don’t want to talk about sin; they want to talk about brokenness. When you say the world is full of sin, what you’re really saying is that the world is full of sinners and you’re one of them. That’s not very nice; it hurts our self-esteem. But when you say the world is full of brokenness, then you become the victim of sin. We feel bad for you. We’re sorry that you’re suffering because of all the world’s problems.

Doesn’t that sound a little contrary to the Gospel? The Bible says that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). We aren’t innocent victims of sin–we’re sinners. Sin is a result of the Fall. After the Fall, there will be brokenness because there is sin. As Christians, we do need to go out in the world and care for the needy (James 1:27). However, we can’t fix what’s broken; only God can. Only God can take away sin, and until the root cause of sin is gone, there’s going to be brokenness. What we really need to talk about is the Gospel. People can see that there’s brokenness in the world; tell them the cause of the brokenness. Give them hope; Someone willingly took our sin upon Himself and gave us the promise of eternal life without sin if we remain faithful to Him during our time on earth. The world is full of sin, and we can’t escape what’s out there. But through God’s grace, what’s in each of our hearts can be fixed.

The difference

I have a big piano audition this Saturday. Since I didn’t practice very much last month, I’m having to do a lot extra now. This weekend, I had a brilliant thought. If I could spend my entire Saturday studying Bible Bee, why not try practicing piano all day?

I learned something: Studying the Bible and practicing piano have very little in common. I enjoy both a lot, but there is no question which is better! When we’re studying the Bible, we are studying the Word of God. That Word created the world. It destroyed the ancient world. It preserves the present world (2 Peter 3:5-7). But most importantly, that Word became flesh and dwelt among us. We beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and Truth (John 1:14). Think about that...isn’t it amazing? Studying the Word is never a burden; it is a privilege. Trying to find the same joy and fulfillment in a Chopin ballade is pointless. It doesn’t matter how much you enjoy something–it never gave you life, and it won’t give you a purpose for life. Only Christ can do that.

During this time of year, there are lots of things that keep us busy...school, music recitals, sports games, shopping, Christmas parties...it’s a time when culture is shoving lies on customers who are only too willing to buy. People are longing for the truth, but they can’t buy it at the mall like they can a new sweater. We see words like "Joy," "Peace," and "Hope" everywhere. Joy–from what? Peace–toward whom? Hope–in what? Those words are meaningless and empty without Christ. Nothing culture offers is going to satisfy us. But the Word made flesh can. He offers us Joy from the Father, Peace with God, Hope in Himself.

As life gets busy with Christmas celebrations, remember that, without Christ, all the fullness of the Christmas season is really a cry of want from a hungry world. Only He can come as the Bread of Life and fill them.

Help!

This is a continuation of last week's post

When someone asks you what your favorite subject in school is or what your hobby is, what do you usually say? For me, I generally answer that I really like math and that I’m a pianist. I enjoy both a lot and sometimes take just a little bit of pride in them. And anytime the word "pride" describes my attitude, you can be sure that trouble will soon come after. As Proverbs 16:18 says, "Pride comes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall." Think about it for a second–when you fall off a chair, it hurts a little, but it’s not that bad. If you fell off a mountain, that would be a different story. A fall from pride is the same. When you have a little pride and God taps you off your pedestal, it hurts a little. When your pride "reaches to the heavens," it’s killing. You end up needing to shut the door of your room and pray that God will perform some serious heart surgery on you! 

Inevitably, that fall will come. It either looks like the "C" on my calculus test or that awful memory blank at the concerto competition (you know–the one where you start a scale on page 5 and when you come down you realize that you somehow ended on page 25 and have no idea how you got there). I get so angry at myself when I fail! When I mess up really badly in one of my "strong" points, I want to give up in everything. After all, if I’m bad at what I’m good at, what does that mean about what I know I struggle with? It’s the whole identity theft problem all over again: I’m trying to live in an identity that doesn’t belong to me. But, as frustrating and embarrassing as those failures can be, they are a great time for me to take a step back and examine my heart. When you trust in your own abilities, you’re going to fail. People aren’t perfect. We can’t live our entire lives with a perfect record of anything. But, when you admit your imperfections to God and trust Him to make His strength perfect in you, then God can use you to do His work. It’s only when we recognize that our strengths are our weaknesses that He is able to take our weakness and make it His strength. If we could do something–anything–perfectly, we would become proud. When we mess up, it reminds us how imperfect we are...how much we need One who is perfect.

I don’t know about the rest of you, but for me, October and November tend to be the hardest months for me...with all the time spent studying Bible Bee, I feel like I’m spread a little thin over the rest of my work! It’s so easy to want to give up since I get discouraged and think I can’t do it all. Guess what–I’m right! I can’t do it all! But, by God’s grace, I can. Maybe we can’t do everything we want to do, but God will give us the strength to everything He has planned for us to do. Soli Deo Gloria!

2 Corinthians 12:9–And He said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness." Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

James 4:10–Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.

1 Peter 5:10–But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you.

Cooking lessons

I love when the seasons change...leaves turning colors, crisp fall breezes, fires flaming in the fireplace...and, best of all, pumpkin pie. My family loves pumpkin pie. So the first cool week in September, my mom and I made a double recipe of pumpkin pie. She rolled out crusts on one end of the kitchen while I mixed the filling on the other. It brought back memories of when we made the pies last September, and I carelessly flipped open the can of pureed pumpkin. My mom ended up finishing that pie since I promptly wrapped my finger in lots of band-aids. It wasn’t a big cut, but it was deep–deep enough for me to see a scar on my knuckle when I opened the can this year.

Ever since that pie last year, I have been very careful to follow my mom’s instructions when I’m cooking. Instead of opening and dumping cans as if I was competing in the international Rubik’s cube championship, I very carefully pry the lid open. That scar is enough to remind me not to be careless with sharp edges. I used to think my mom’s warnings were a little too cautious...after all, you can slide a finger over the sharp edge of a can without getting cut, so why waste time opening a can so slowly? But once I actually felt the consequences of being careless, I understood the importance of slowly working with sharp objects.

Isn’t it funny how we are so prone to thinking that we’re the ultimate authority on everything? Like Liesel said in Sound of Music: "I’m sixteen years old and I don’t need a governess!" Even respectful Christian teenagers can unintentionally get that attitude. It’s not that we’re trying to be disobedient, but we just assume we know more than our moms and dads do. And, what’s worse, we sometimes act–not that we would ever say this–like we know more than God does. No, we’re not out murdering and stealing in our free time, but what about getting angry at siblings or thinking we inherently deserve the biggest slice of pie? Our anger is not righteous indignation, and if you think you deserve anything–! We just don’t get it. When God gives us commandments, it’s for our own good! He doesn’t make up rules for the sake of rules; God gave us commandments that our for our good and His glory. But then, when we act like we’re smarter than He is, God sends us a reminder that He is infinitely wiser than our little finite minds. He sends us pain as the consequences of our foolishness. Now we remember that He knows better. As C. S. Lewis said once said in The Problem of Pain, "God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world."

Pain is God’s megaphone to rouse a deaf world.

If we would only listen to those whispers in the pleasant times, we could avoid so much pain! But God is sovereign, and He plans our pains to make us grow.

Revelation 3:19–As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent.

Be still

Have you ever made yourself a schedule and told yourself that you were going to follow it? Occasionally, I find myself writing them in fifteen-minute increments in notebooks to make sure a single minute isn’t wasted. I stick them on my bookshelf. My message board has lists of friends I want to email and phone numbers I need to call. My booklist is a large stack of dusty books sitting under the list on my bookshelf. There is so much to do and so little time!

Be still and know that He is God (Psalm 46:10).

Be still...be still...be still...

Quiet your heart and seek His presence in the still. Don’t be so worried about putting in enough hours studying Bible Bee that you forget to listen to His voice. Have you ever waken up while it’s still dark and begun to pray? Sometimes God speaks in the smoke and earthquake (Exodus 19), but other times it’s the still, small voice you hear only when you are still and listening (1 Kings 19:12). When you are the only one awake in your house, and the only other noise you can hear is the gentle pattering of summer rain on the roof, can you quiet your heart enough to hear Him? Are you so busy studying that you forget to listen?

Some days, studying feels like a complete mental exercise. I feel burned out and overwhelmed. I quickly flip through every card in the stack and say them till the words jumble together. I’m not listening. Slow down and be still.

Mark 1:35 “Now in the morning, having risen a long while before daylight, He went out and departed to a solitary place; and there He prayed.”

Jesus knew to seek God in the quiet solitude and there commune with Him. We need to follow His example. Quiet your heart and be still. Know that He is God.

Watch where you're going!

A few days ago, my dad and I went out driving. Overall, it went well–I stayed within the speed limit, didn’t run any red lights, and took some very sharp turns without ending up in the gutter. It was almost fun. Nothing went terribly wrong and it was a beautiful spring day. The flowers were blooming and the trees were all lovely shades of green. It was so pretty that it was distracting. I wanted to look at all the flowers instead of the road. When we passed a neighborhood, I would turn and look at the road I could have taken instead of the one I was on. As soon as I started looking the other direction and wondering what was on the other path, I would start drifting towards it. My dad would call my attention back to the road and remind me to straighten the car. Maybe I had only drifted a few inches off the right path, but a few inches the wrong way is enough to be very dangerous. Just a few inches in the lane of oncoming traffic with a truck coming at me could kill me. But those other roads were so pretty I couldn’t help but look...what was at the end of them?

Does your walk with Christ ever feel like that? Everything’s going well. Life is good. And then you see something another road that looks ever so inviting. You know you need to follow Christ and stay on His path, but you turn your head to see what it looks like...and the temptation grows. Without realizing it, you drift just a tiny bit into the wrong lane. You’re still on the right road, but part of you is leaning on the other side. That is a dangerous position.

Proverbs 4:25 says to let your eyes looks straight ahead. If you’re looking ahead on the right path, you won’t drift onto the wrong one. Keep your eyes on the road.

In Philippians 3, Paul says that he forgets what he left behind–those streets he passed by–and reached forward to what was ahead–Christ. He pressed toward the goal of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

Genesis 19:26 gives an example of someone who looked back at what she left behind instead of forward toward the grace she had been given: Lot’s wife. What happened? She became a pillar of salt. Don’t look away.

Paul said that he did not run with uncertainty (1 Corinthians 9:26). The easiest way to get lost is to not know where you’re going. Don’t be uncertain where you’re heading! All roads lead to one of two places: Heaven or Hell. Only one will get you to Heaven; all the rest will take you to Hell. Stick to the right path with certainty! Don’t turn aside. Don’t look back. Set your eyes on things above and keep them there!

Don’t look down the other roads even though you might not ever see them again. You might always wonder “what would have happened.” But, as Aslan told Lucy, “Child, that is not your story.” Don’t wander down paths that are not in your story. Stay on the one your Author mapped out for you.

Thinking like Christians

"When you memorize a verse of scripture, you memorize a thought of God. When you memorize portions of scripture and meditate on it, you begin to think as God thinks."


Every time I read this, I am in awe.  Think as God thinks? What an honor! 
We are supposed to be conformed to the image of His Son and let this mind be in us which was also in Christ Jesus!  We are to think like God thinks.


Obviously, we cannot think exactly like God. We are not perfect; we are not infinite; we are not omniscient.  But we can think like a Christian, literally a "little Christ." 


In Romans 12:2, God commands us to be transformed by the renewing of our mind.  Don't you want your mind to be made new? Our minds are transformed by reading, meditating on, and memorizing Scripture! How wonderful is that?


When you are reading the Word, do you think of it as the thoughts of God?
When you go over your verses, are you doing it because it reminds you of Bible Bee, or because you love God and want to think like He does?  
When you study a passage, do you ask God to change your way of thinking so that it reflects Him, and not your sinful nature?


May we all have minds as the Lord Jesus, willing to use our hearts, hands, and minds for His glory!