Scripture

I was witness to a comment tonight about people not memorizing scripture. The gist of it was that far to many people are more concerned with watching Lost or Grey's than they are with learning scripture. I am not talking about people in society, but the Christian population. I didn't say anything and the moment passed quickly, but it has kind of erked me. I mean what's the deal with that statement. First of all I think there is a lot of truth to it. I read the bible on a daily basis and put a lot of effort into learning what is has to say, but I still probably know more show or movie lines than I do verses in Scripture. I don't know if that's bad, but it doesn't sound very good. So where does this lack of emphasis come from.

In Young Life we have a whole section of one of our diagrams (The Wheel) dedicated to God's Word. The verses there are 2 Timothy 3:16-17 and Joshua 1:8, and if even one of those is taken to heart I would expect a very high priority put on learning scripture. Why then are there so few people, including myself, who know a lot of scripture?

One thing worth mentioning here is that at the Vineyard there is a non-existent emphasis put on memorizing Scripture. Maybe I am missing it, or its just not a priority of a seeker friendly church, but I just don't see an emphasis put on learning scripture. Yeah, there is the idea of quiet times, and daily reading, but that's not the image I see in scripture. I don't know if it's like that in all churches or even lots of churches, but I am sure that's not how it was in biblical times.

When a Monarchy was first established over Israel they where instructed by God to write out the Pentateuch, by hand, and read it every day, always keeping it with them so that they may be careful to keep God's commands. Back in the day know the Bible was a big deal. Check out Acts 7 and listen to Stephen when his life is on the line quote passages from most of the old testament. Or Paul when he is writing to a church or disciple quote from several of the prophets. The ultimate example is Christ and all the different times He knew scripture and the prophesies He was fulfilling. The point is that Jesus thought knowing Scripture essential to knowing God.

Now I see people like Hudson Taylor or Betty McGee or Corrie Ten Boom, people who have done great things with there faith, and they all know scripture incredibly well. In spite of how well they know it, I would bet that they still desire to know it more. They have tapped into a power in scripture that I feel like I am missing. It is personal to them, all of it. I don't know how to get to that point, but I think I am beginning to realize the importance of knowing scripture.

As many of you know, stuff hasn't really been great for me lately in terms of what's happening in my life. Not that things are all bad, just there have been a lot of challenges that have staggered me in my routine of life. One of the things that has jumped out at me lately is a bunch of scripture I didn't even know I knew. Stuff I had memorized or spent a lot of time trying to figure out months or years ago that has just been popping up in my thoughts. It's worth noting that at many times lately, even often, Scripture has been the stuff in my life that allows me to walk around with my head held high. I will get stuck on something like "nothing new under the sun" from Ecclesiastes 6, or Romans 8:38-39, or Micah 7:8, there are a ton of examples. The point here is that Scripture has been of great usefulness and necessity to me lately, and I wish that I had spent more time learning it before now. The Word of God quenches our souls.

I have been trying (but not hard) for a long time to memorize the book of Ephesians. I want to be more consistent in the effort I put into memorizing Scripture. Someday it could be taken away from me, or God could call me to a place where I am not allowed to have it. I need to start preparing for that even if it never happens. Even without those extremes it would be incredibly useful to know much more than I do now. So that's feelings, Scripture is a big deal and we generally take it for granted and I want to stop doing that.