Every day I forget I’m a Christian. Yep, it’s true.
Now let’s be clear, I can’t remember a day when I wasn’t a Christian. I prayed to receive Christ as my Lord and Saviour when I was 4. I grew up going to church every Sunday. My father was the pastor of our church. I went to Christian school. I went to Christian camp. I read my bible every night. I sang worship songs for fun. It’s not that I haven’t heard many, many times the good news that I am a Christian– a holy, beloved, eternal child of God. I just forget.
What Do You Mean You Forget?
I forget when I lose my keys or someone cuts me off in traffic. I forget when someone nags me or when I’m watching the Blue Jays lose(or win). I forget when I’m gorging on potato chips, binging on Netflix and when I’m complaining about the weather. I forget when life feels out of my control and when the unclear future seems scary. I forget when someone rejects me and I feel worthless. I forget when I see someone in a fancier car and feel unsuccessful. I forget when I have bad skin or bad hair or the wrong clothes and I feel ugly and unwanted.
It’s not that I don’t know in a way that I’m a holy, beloved, eternal child of the Living God. It’s just that in the heat of that moment I get caught up in what I see and forget in my heart what’s really true. And so I don’t walk like a holy, beloved, eternal child of the Living God. I walk like the victim, the condemned, the loser, the worthless, ugly, unsuccessful and unwanted man I appear to be in that moment.
What’s the Solution Then?
Well, if forgetting is the problem, what’s the answer?… Remembering! And the sooner the better!
That’s why we get together at least once a week as a church to sing and read and preach the truth to do just that. We gather to remind each other and ourselves about what is actually true.
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. Col. 3:16
It’s why we read the Bible, to know more deeply and remind ourselves once again what is true about God and ourselves and the world around us. The Bible is therefore so precious.
Better Than a Book
But what’s even better than having a book we can pull out to know what’s true?… Knowing it by heart!
Knowing by heart what God has said to us means we can reduce that gap between forgetting and remembering! We don’t have to wait until the next time we get around to finding and opening a Bible. Instead we can remember in the heat of moments. We can remember the instant someone makes fun of us or our old car breaks down or the doctor gives us that dire diagnosis. That’s the difference between simply owning a Bible and knowing what it says by heart. It can be the difference between periodically returning to repentance and living in an ongoing posture of repentance.
Memorizing Changes Life
This is a big deal. This means that there is so much more ongoing joy and peace and confidence available to a Christian who knows more and more of the Bible by heart. Memorizing scripture gives us the constant opportunity for repentance– to change our minds from believing simply what we see in front of us to believing God about the way things actually are. It means memorizing scripture equips us to avoid returning evil for evil, lashing out to defend ourselves, envying others for what they have, or resenting those who reject us.
Memorizing scripture can help equip us to give generously without fear, to love without reciprocation, to forgive unconditionally, and to have peace no matter what’s going on around us. God’s word is a gift to us and the means by which the Spirit renews our minds (Eph. 4:20-24, 2 Cor. 3:18).
Let’s Look at an Example
So, as a first-born pastor’s son one area I’ve always struggled with is perfectionism– this sense that to measure up I need to do everything perfectly. So, when I do something I know is wrong I tend to feel really guilty and ashamed about it. And that can make me grumpy and touchy and anxious. It makes me look for a way out; to justify myself or blame shift. Why? Because in that moment I’m believing that I have guilt that I need to get rid of and I’m trying to get rid of it any way I can. I’m trying by hiding it, excusing it or pushing it onto someone else. And that’s making me sin all the more and hurt myself and other people.
But what happens when I know the Scriptural gospel by heart? What happens when I know really clearly, for example, 1 Peter 3:18, 2 Corinthians 5:17 and Romans 8:1. Let’s see:
“I’ve screwed up, what am I going to do! I feel guilty and I’ve got to get rid of it! Maybe I’ll lie and deny it happened! Maybe I’ll try to explain and justify why I did it! Maybe I’ll try and blame someone else for it!”
But remember:
Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. (1 Peter 3:18a)
“But I did bad, so I suck. I’m a failure. I’m a disappointment. I’m the worst.”
But remember:
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. (2 Cor. 5:17)
“But can I really be totally free of it? Am I really safe? A little bit of it still is going to linger on me, isn’t it? So I’m ruined.”
But remember:
There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. (Rom. 8:1a)
Do you see a little how knowing the gospel clearly in Scripture can totally change how I respond? What could’ve led to lies, arguments, and lashing out at others instead can turn to honesty, peace, relief and joy as I look, not to myself, but to Christ Jesus through the word of God. And all in the heat of that moment, if I have it memorized.
Worth the Effort – x1000
Memorizing scripture takes effort and discipline, it’s true. It takes time and it may have to replace something else we’re doing in our days. But isn’t this worth it? Worth it, times a thousand? To be ever more equipped to trust in God in everything else we do every day? To be ever more equipped to have love and peace and joy in our hearts in every part of our lives? To be ever more equipped to walk by the Spirit as the holy, eternal, beloved children of the Living God?
Memorizing what the Bible says equips us to preach the gospel to ourselves every minute of every day. And that changes everything.
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly!
Read more about memorizing scripture here
