The Bible is a fundamental foundation to the Christian faith. It points us to the Person of God in Jesus Christ who desires our communion and devotion. If a person wants to grow more in the faith, they must grow in the area of Bible devotions and even scripture memorisations.
I was trained for most of my childhood under a fundamental Baptist background, and while at times disciplines taught were a little stern and strict, it was these disciplines that set strong foundations for me as a believer. One of the things we were asked to do was memorise scriptures on a regular basis, and I've been doing that for the last fifteen years.
2 Timothy 3:16-17 tells us, "All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work."
The Bible is God's spoken word to all mankind. It's more than just a book of old sayings and stories. It's a collection of principles, thoughts, values and fundamental truths that God wants to impart to us.
In today's day and age, people - including Christians - can all too often want everything served up on a silver platter. We'd rather have it easy and convenient. We like the message of God's grace, blessings and breakthroughs, but when it comes to us doing our part, we can easily dismiss it as unnecessary legalism.
But David understood that the grace of God should actually push us to work and strive, not slack off. He says in Psalm 119:11, "I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you."
If we really knew the value that was behind the word of God, we would chase after it. We find it easy to memorise recipes, love songs, lines from movies, and poems but we think that memorising scripture is pointless or even boring.
No, memorising scripture will not make God love you more. It will not bring you to heaven. It will not erase your past sin. But when we are truly filled with Christ's love and the power of the Holy Spirit, we will start to value His Word more and pursue it because it reveals more of God to us. The more God's voice is talking to you in your head, the less that other voices that don't line up with the Word will be, and that will greatly affect how you think and feel, and what you do.
In other words, we shouldn't memorise scripture because we have to, but because the fruit in our lives will be well worth it in the end.
So let our prayer be that we receive so much more of Jesus that we will want to meditate on His Word day and night.
Proverbs 7:2 tells us, "keep my commandments and live; keep my teaching as the apple of your eye."
God asks us to value His Word as a response to our value of Jesus Christ in our life as we pursue and chase Him more and more.
