Wednesday, June 14, 2006

Memory Verses

Boy, did the Mavs let one get away last night or what? They had the Heat on the ropes! I hope that game doesn't come back to haunt them.

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Being at VBS this week has brought back memories from childhood: Memory verses. As I was shaving this morning, I was thinking about memory verses I learned in Sunday School.
Baptism verses: Matthew 28: 19-20, Mark 16: 15-16, Acts 2: 38, Galatians 3: 26-27.
Why we do what we do verses: Acts 20: 7, Ephesians 5: 19, 1 Corinthians 16: 1-2.
Verses about the importance of the Word: 2 Timothy 3: 16-17, 1 Peter 3: 15, Hebrews 5: 12.
THE verse about being at church "every time the doors are open." Hebrews 10: 25.
Evangelism verses: John 3: 16, Matthew 28: 19-20.

I'm not meaning to be critical. I am very grateful for the many people who touched my life in Bible Classes. But most of the verses we memorized had little if anything to do with the formation of a personal faith in Jesus.

I think the verse that has meant the most to me through the years is Psalm 1. A Bible class teacher I had in 5th grade (I think) challenged us to memorize that whole psalm. "Blessed is the man who walketh not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on that law he meditates both day and night..."

So, what is your favorite memory verse?

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

As a child, John 11:35.

As an adult, just about any verse in Romans 8.

Jeff said...

As much as anything, I think the memory forces reinforces the idea that it is good to know scripture. While I don't remember memorizing verses within those topics per se, I do know that the memory exercise was and is good in reinforcing scripture.

My favorite is Psalm 23. I derive much peace from it.

Jeff said...

I think the Heat had one emotional win coming. Last night may be all they get.

Liz Moore said...

I have several favorite verses, I'm sure we all do. But one of my favorites is Isaiah 40:31..."but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint." ESV

By the way, I just saw pictures of Jed. He is just adorable!!

And I agree about the Mavs. I think the Heat had at least one win. It's amazing to me that Shaq made the comment he went back to the way he shot free throws in high school when he made more shots. He's been shooting (if you can even call it shooting) free throws the same way for the last several years. You would have thought he would have thought to go back to worked way before now! duh!

Anonymous said...

OK preacher - I'm not trying to be too critical - but are you saying that baptism, what we do, getting to know the word, and importance of being in church has nothing to do with having a relationship with Jesus? I find this strange. We put on Christ is baptism - that seems relational. Knowing the word of God - which in a way emulates Jesus - that seem relational. Being with other christians as often as possible to share in prayer, worship, encouragement - that too seems relational. Maybe I missed the point somewhere. I also have a comment about yesterdays blog. Why is it that some seem to never miss an opportunity to cast a negative light towards "tradition". Why would we call some of our brethern "old stuffies". I have been attending this church for quite some time and don't feel that way at all about this congregation. I think we have great traditions and I can't imagine where this church would be without the "old stuffies". Maybe I am being a little over sensitive here, but sometimes sense that we want to flee from all things past because we are somehow ashamed of it. I would agree that there certainly are some embarresing moments in our history but I also think a lot of good was done as well - and we stand on the shoulders of those who did a lot of the good that we enjoy today. I am proud to be a part of a church with good traditions, a great yearly VBS, and "old stuffies, young stuffies and middle age stuffies" that round out a wonder group of brothers and sisters in Christ.

Mark Short

jenny biz said...

Anonymous - Too sensitive it is. I don't think he was implying any of the things you took from his comments. Of course, all those things have to do with developing and maturing a relationship with Jesus. Very few Followers of Jesus would argue any of those points. Many of our traditions are beautiful, Godly things BUT many of them were man-made and did a lot of harm. If we are all focused on becoming more like Jesus and loving each other the way he would, none of these things are worth arguing about. Let's stay busy about the work of God and not about debating.

Bev Ross said...

I have many verses in my head and in my heart that serve me well as my Sword. What a blessings to live in a time with the printed Word!!! The first verse that came to my mind from childhood that I have called on many, many times is in Eph. 6: "my battle is not against flesh and blood..."
What an intriguing question! I have loved thinking about it throughout the day!

Rick Ross said...

Mark,

I wish you would have called me and we could have talked about this. Now I feel the need to write a response here. I was including myself in the "old stuffies" comment. No finger pointed anywhere else. There was no indictment intended.

Further, the verses I cited are certainly important -- but it seems they were memorized more to use to argue than to build a personal relationship. That was all I intended to say with them. Again, certainly no indictment intended, even as I said how much I appreciated my bible class teachers of old.

Yes, I do think you are taking it too sensitively. I would be glad to visit with you about it. Blessings.

Anonymous said...

I wouldn't say I am up to snuff on the stardard protocol for blogging, but on the particular sites I have visited it wasn't out of the norm to have healthy debates on the topics of the day. If a person posting to this site is not permitted to disagree or state another point of view, then what is the point in having a site at all - unless it was strictly to allow those who only have the same mind set regarding that issue. I can certainly stay busy about the work of God and have a healthy debate with those I might not see eye to eye with. I have learned to multi-task in my faith.

Mark Short

Unknown said...

My favorite memory verse- Rom. 8:28

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I'd like to respectfully chime in on the subject of traditions. Traditions can be great and terrible. They're great from the standpoint that they remind us of certain things-- they give us a refernce point for understanding and acting. They're terrible when the traditions themselves become elevated too highly or are made binding and lead to sectariansim or partyism.

Traditions are not good when we derive our relationship with the Lord and others through those traditions. The problem, in my opinion, is that far too many of us have tended to find our foundation for relationship in certain acts, memory verses or whatever rather than find the foundation for our relationships in the Person Who Jesus Is, what He has done, and what He is doing. Once we have this Foundation for relationship, all other realtionships and behaviors assume their proper position. Without this Foundation on a personal level,our other relationships, our acts, memory verses or behaviors are, at best, hopefully pointing us to Jesus or at worst, flat out idolatry elevated above their proper position -- which is obviously hideous in the sight of the Lord.

As far as the term, "old stuffies," I perceived it as a light-hearted comment of which I, too, have been known to be "stuffy."

Having said that, I think a perfect example of "old stuffyism" was just a few weeks ago when a young man was baptized. And because some of our members do not like clapping and a "welcome circle" they make a silent but loud statement by getting up, leaving their pews and waiting in the foyer rather than encouraging the young man and his family by participating in a new "tradition" which we call a welcome circle. That's fine if they do not want to particpate or cannot because of conscience, but it was pretty disrespectful and quite "stuffy" in making a scene by leaving.

Here's my point: we all need Jesus. We all need a deep, personal relationship with Him. Traditions, if they draw us closer to Him are great. If there are traditons that do not help us fall in love with Jesus over and over again and are merely rote exercises or a checklist to be checked-- these tradtions are no good.

Written in love,

Kyle "sometimes stuffy" Reeves :)

jenny biz said...

WONDERFULLY put Kyle "Sometimes suffy- as we all can be" Reeves! Thanks for your comment!

jenny biz said...

I meant stuffy, not suffy:)

Jeff said...

At various times I've been called old and stuffy. I also enjoy a good debate. One of the good things we can have on a site like this is a healthy debate between people who love each other and who may or may not be stuffy.

In that spirit and against better judgement, I too will join the fray. As has been stated, traditions, both old and new, can be good or bad depending on how they are addressed. People often fall on both sides of a tradition and so is the case with a new tradition in our church of clapping and circling up following a baptism.

I have been saddened to hear some of my brothers and sisters comments toward a group of people who might not have felt comfortable joining in this new tradition and because they didn't, many unhealthy and un-Christlike comments have been made towards them. Whether these people needed to get up and move out because their older bodies needed to find it's way to a different part of the facility or because they prefer not to participate, they were not given an appropriate option of dismissal.

I'm disappointed that they had to walk out as they did yet my greater disappointment is that they were not given an option and my greater disappointment are the comments made about them by some of my brothers and sisters in Christ. I feel their decision and the resulting comments is no more "old stuffyism" on their part than it is "new legalism" on the part of those who feel it is the right thing to do.

If we are to have a Christ-like relationship with all, we must understand and give respect to those who disagree with us over matters that are open to interpretation, not castigate them because they don't conform to our expectation. Their silent but loud statement may have been very quiet and meek had they been given the opportunity to leave in a different manner.

As I understand it, the father of the boy that was baptized had tears in his eyes following the time together, not because he was affected by those that left but by those who showed him the love of Christ. All the while, I feel confident those that left are thankful that another soul was added to the kingdom.

I agree that we must seek a relationship with Christ and in doing so, we will beat back the devil when he uses our traditions to tear us apart. Our relationships must be stronger than any traditions, our love greater than any disagreements.

Unknown said...

Come on Jeff,

You know they could have waited till we all got up and were circling up and then they could have exited quietly without a scene. That was the appropriate time.

Absolutely, in matters of opinion, we must not castigate or cast judgment. I, too, am disappointed if any of our number have made unChrist-like comments. I was unaware of this.

Therefore, I repeat: We all need Jesus. Beginning with me.

We also need to communicate better as a family. We're not very good at that. I think this is an excellent forum for doing that, but also communication in love-- face to face. God has given us unity in our diversity through Jesus. We need not fear.

Have to go now. But I hope we can talk more about this.