In the Word

Well, yesterday was a much better day. I had a very productive day at work, came home to happy (and much less snotty) children, enjoyed a very pleasant dinner with my kiddos, and then watched a movie before I went to bed. Thanks for the encouraging comments!

Back to my point. I've mentioned before that our pastor is teaching this awesome series based on Jeremiah entitled "LOST: The Church in Post-Christian America". We've been out of town for the past couple of weeks, but this past Sunday's sermon did not disappoint.

The gist of his sermon was that non-Christians think that Christians are hypocrites because Christians don't spend time in the WORD or truly believe the WORD. We have bibles everywhere, except in our HEART. We are bible CARRIERS only. Christians don't truly meditate on God's word and HIDE it in our hearts. We can't make Christ and God's love REAL to others until it is REAL to us. Why is it important to KNOW the WORD?

• when Jesus was tempted, he responded by quoting scripture
• when the world tells us we are worthless, the WORD defines who we are
• when we are angered or enraged, we want the WORD to respond
• the WORD does it own work
• the WORD comforts us when we are hurting or down

I grew up in a Southern Baptist Church. I was there every time the doors were open, whether I wanted to be or not. (Most of the time I wanted to be there.) Staying home was not an option in my home. Each week, I had to recite a memory verse in my Sunday morning class. I still remember some of those verses. However, for my adult life, I have failed at meditating on God's word. Failed miserably. And I want to change.

So ... the point of me telling you all of this. I have been struggling with this for a while ... how to take my walk with Christ deeper. I don't spend time IN THE WORD like I should. I get busy doing other things. I truly believe this is Satan keeping me from focusing on what is truly important in my life. Satan likes to keep us busy, distracted.

I am making a commitment, right here, right now, to memorize one verse per week for the remainder of the year. (That is 20 verses.) If I am trying to memorize this verse, I will meditate on it daily. They won't be long passages ... but they will be meaningful.

My verse for this week.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! 2 Corinthians 5:17.

(My friend, the Mama, has a really beautiful way to display your scripture memory verse in your home. I don't have anything quite this fancy yet. I'll work from an index card for now.)