Blog 3- Caleb Odell

This week when I met with John we talked about the importance of memorizing Scripture. As Christians we believe that the Bible, our scriptures, is the word of God. This is the primary means by which God speaks to us through His Spirit. Memorizing is something that allows us to better imprint God’s word on our hearts. It is a habit that can help us as we seek to grow more and more into the image of Christ. Memorizing the Bible is something we all think is valuable, but often we struggle to follow through with it. Something that John and I have been doing this year is memorizing Scripture together. Generally it is not a large amount each week, normally three to four verses, but it has been a steady endeavor, especially this last semester. This has been really helpful because it provides me accountability. It is so easy to know I should memorize the Bible and then to be motivated right at the start, but often I shortly lose focus and then stop making the effort that I need to in order to make any progress on my memorization. Memorizing passages with John has been helpful because it means I have a deadline each week that I need to memorize the verses. Since it is only three verses or so, I still often wait until the last minute, but it takes away the chance for me to fall behind to the point where I cannot catch back up. Through this method I have been able to be much more consistent in trying to memorize the Bible. I think this is valuable because it makes me think deeper on the verses I am memorizing, and, obviously, it helps stick them in my mind where I can recall them in times of need. I am really grateful for having someone to keep me accountable in memorizing Scripture this year. We started trying to memorize passages together just before Christmas break and it has really helped to keep me on track. This is probably the most consistent I have been with Scripture memorization ever before in my life. I hope that memorizing Scripture is a habit I can keep up with  as I continue on in life because I think that it will help to grow to love God and His people better and better.