One of the things I really enjoy in life is eating a big stack of Oreo cookies and a cold glass of milk. There is nothing quite like that tasty snack. I have been known (in times past) to demolish most of a new bag of cookies at one sitting. This delightful indulgence came to an end last year when I had a heart attack at the age of forty-nine. When I woke up in the cardiac care unit I had to face the reality of my life and my doctor and loving wife confronted me on several issues I needed to deal with. Number one issue was my diet.
A diet is very important to good health. No one, not even me, can survive on a diet of cookies and milk. We all need our vegetables and protein and lots of good water to keep our bodies working at peak performance. The same is true in our spiritual life. We cannot attain peak spiritual performance on a diet that consists of nothing but a one hour sermon once a week. We need much more than that to grow and mature as Christians.
Many Christians try to maintain a spiritual life on nothing more than their Sunday commitment to hearing the Word, and then go out into the world and have our minds filled with the junk food offered to us—godless entertainment on T.V., the foul language we hear in the workplace, the worldly wisdom of magazine articles and the promotion of perversion and filth we see in every form of advertising. The one hour a week Bible diet is not sufficient for our daily needs.
The Bible is our daily bread and we need to make sure we are getting the most spiritual nutrients out of it. There are several ways we do this and the first way is to be making sure to have some time reading the Word daily. There are some great Bible reading plans available on-line and each person needs to find the one that works best for them. Just a few minutes each day will provide you with spiritual food to sustain you. While Bible reading is very important, I believe there is another aspect that is equally important and that is Scripture memory.
The Bible tells us over and over again to meditate on God’s Word. Joshua 1:8 says, “This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success” (ESV). The word “meditate” literally means to “chew the cud”. It is a term that came from the animal kingdom. When a cow eats grass it will swallow it and then regurgitate it later to chew it again and again and again until it has extracted all the nutrients from the grass. Scripture memory gives us the same ability. As we memorize God’s Word and put it into our minds we have the ability to bring it back up and mull it over and chew on it throughout the day. This way we have our minds filled with the things of God rather than the things of men.
When Jesus was tempted by Satan in the wilderness (Matt. 4) He responded to each of Satan’s temptations with the Word of God. Scripture memory not only nourishes us, it also provides us with ammunition to deal with the daily temptations we face. When that sinful thought tries to take root in our minds, we can respond with quoting scripture over and over and that thought will go away. God’s Word is powerful and we need to have it at the ready in our hearts and minds.
Next week we will discuss some great methods of putting Scripture memory into practice and I will share with you one of the most transforming spiritual experiences I have ever had in relation to memorizing God’s Word. For today, take up the Bible and make a commitment to read it each day and start memorizing a favorite verse or two and then chew on it throughout the day. Our hearts will be healthier and stronger as we change our spiritual diet.
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