Thoughts about the Word of God

“Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one! You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontlet bands on your forehead. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates."
-Deuteronomy 6:4-9

I know this passage was directed towards the children of Israel concerning the Law; but I feel that we Christians today should show the same amount of devotion and regard for the word of God. It should be a prominent feature in our everyday lives. I can't help but think that the children of Israel wouldn't have turned from God as often if they payed this much attention to the Law. I believe the same holds true for us Christians today.

Our attention to the scriptures should be more than Bible reading in the mornings, our time spent at Church, and calendars with motivational verses on our walls. These are good things, but I feel we should ponder God's word all throughout our days, everyday. We should also discuss the scriptures with each other, and not just when at Church. The Bible is the one source of information in this world that we can trust completely; and in it we can find every necessary instruction for how to live our lives.

This year I am going to try to memorize a new chapter of the Bible every week. I have done this in the past, but only kept it up for awhile before my life seemed to become too busy to keep up. This is not how it should be. If anything, studying the scriptures should keep me so busy that I have to drop other things from my schedule. Memorizing scriptures seems to work better for me than just reading. Even if years later I don't remember each verse word for word; I still have a better knowledge of where verses are, and the theme of each chapter. It also makes it more possible to ponder what I have read, even when there is not a Bible in front of me. So far I have done Philippians 1, and this week I am on chapter two.

I am not saying that everybody needs to memorize a chapter a week; but it certainly couldn't hurt to try. I will try to share what I have been reading and thinking about, and I would like to hear about what you are reading!

A Bible shelf in our Parlor