Memorizing to Cognizance

For almost three weeks now I have been having a grand old time with Dennis and Carrie up in South Bend. During the week Carrie has been helping me get my tush out of bed in the morning to go on a walk/run with her. She works on her memory verses while walking and has appointed me to keep her from making up her own version of the Bible. Carrie has several chapters memorized and after listening to her say her verses, I was inspired to get back into a memorizing routine. 

 

Last fall I had been working on Proverbs 2:1-6 and decided to pick those up again. I'm also trying to memorize Romans 6, 7 & 8. So far I have Romans 6:1-4 down and am ready to move on to the next couple verses.

In the last couple of months, I had been having a rather lackadaisical attitude any time I read my Bible. I wasn't necessarily very excited about my lack of excitement for God's word and began to pray for a renewed interest and hunger for His word. I have found that memorizing Scripture has greatly increased my excitement for and joy in God's word. 

I was just reviewing my Romans verses and was reminded of some quotes I read the other day in Worldliness by C. J. Mahaney so I decided to look at them too. Romans chapter 6 is talking about how I died with Christ so that I can live a new life. So often when I think of dying to sin I just create a list of all the things I shouldn't do. I really appreciated the perspective that Mahaney took on dying to sin. Here are some of the quotes I like from the book thus far:

"The evil in our desires often lies not in what we want, but in the fact that we want it too much." (David Powlison paraphrase of John Calvin)

"Worldliness... loving the values and pursuits of the world that stand opposed to God." (C.J. Mahaney)

"We must fight worldliness because it dulls our affections for Christ and distracts our attention from Christ. Worldliness is so serious because Christ is so glorious." (C.J. Mahaney)

"Meditate on the cross. Consider the wonders of the Savior who died for sinners and rose victorious over sin and death. Dwell where the cries of Calvary are louder than the clamor of the world." (C.J. Mahaney)