This past Tuesday, I was, quite literally, the poster boy for Salt Company in Iowa City.
There were actually 4 editions of these made … all using photoshopped qualities of the same picture.
As if that wasn’t enough, Mark Arant decided to use me as an example for the application of his sermon message. When we were remodeling our new church offices over Christmas break, some index cards that I use for memorization somehow fell out of my pocket. Mark found them while cleaning up trash, and was going to throw them away until he realized what they were. He then did what Mark does best: he got out his iphone, took a picture of them, and used the picture as a sermon illustration (much to my surprise).
I felt the need to write a post further explaining the index cards.
Last spring, I decided I was going to memorize 2 Corinthians 4, as nearly every word of it seemed to directly relate to what I was going through in life. I had memorized several verses before, but never an entire chapter before. I started at the top, and worked my way through it, adding just a few verses to what I already knew each week. I would write the new verses on index cards and keep them in my pocket. I would try to recite the entire chapter (or what I knew of it) everyday. When I would get stuck, I would look at my index cards. I would recite it while driving around, while waiting in lines, while eating breakfast … whenever I found myself doing some mundane activity.
The next thing I knew, I had the chapter completely memorized. The entire thing. I could say the whole thing without even much of a pause or a break.
The even crazier thing was that even though I thought I had a good grasp of the meaning of the chapter before memorizing it, over the course of those few months, I realized I was barely scratching the surface of how deep and powerful that portion of Scripture really was. When I read it, I thought of the few circumstances I was currently in and how it might have related to that. When you have a portion of Scripture in your head constantly for a few months, you see that there are many more circumstances in life that the verses applied to. While the application on Monday might have been persevering through an early morning without much sleep, the application on Friday would have been persevering through a time of temptation from sin. The same verse becomes not just a one-time medicine for sickness, but like a living, breathing healing agent inside me; constantly opening my eyes to deeper spiritual truths.
Of any spiritual discipline I’ve ever practiced, none of them have had anywhere near the impact on my life as committing Scripture to memory.
Now, anyone who has ever been to a James & James show or watched me lead worship without a confidence lyric screen knows that I have no special memory powers. I’ve forgotten the words to my own songs too many times to count. Yet, this month, I finished memorizing the book of James.
Yes, the entire book.
It is possible. Scripture memorization is not some unattainable trick only reserved for the spiritual elite or those with IQ’s over 140. I’m writing this post not to give you more reasons for why I should be the “poster boy” (pardon the terrible pun); but I’m writing it to encourage YOU, whoever you are, that taking the living, breathing Word of God into your heart and mind is one of the most valuable investments you could possibly ever make.
(“The Word was with God, and the Word WAS God”)
To use an example from James 5,
“Elijah was a man just like us. He prayed that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the earth for three and a half years. Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops.”
Use whatever method you want. Use index cards, or post-it notes, or just bury your nose in your Bible throughout the day. I hope the method I shared with you for memorizing Scripture helps and encourages you.
And even I can’t remember all the lyrics to my own songs, I can still recite to you 2 Corinthians 4 today.
