Spring is finally upon us. Soon we will experience the beauty of flowers blooming and trees growing new leaves. It is the time of year when the dead of winter gives way to new life. This change in season also provides us with a beautiful illustration of the Christian life. There are times in our spiritual walk when we feel dead, cold, stoic. We feel like we are in the winter of our spiritual lives. So, how do we awaken from this spiritual slumber and once more embrace the spring of life in Christ?
In Psalm 1, David describes a man who is blessed. He says that he is “like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season” (v.3). But what is it about this man that makes him so blessed? “His delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night” (v.2).
This is a man who is bearing fruit and delighting in God, because he is consumed, night and day, with the Word of God. And so, for this month, the “resolution” I would like to encourage you with is “memorization.” Last month, we looked at how, as Christians, we should spend time reading God’s Word, but we shouldn’t just read it; we should carry it with us.
The psalmist says, “I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you” (Psalm 119:11). What a gift it is to have God’s Word hidden in our hearts; to have passages you can bring to mind at will, whenever you are feeling tempted to sin, when you want to praise God, or even when you are feeling cold in your walk with Christ, and you need sustaining.
So this month, make it a practice to commit God’s Word to memory. You don’t need to begin with entire books of the Bible (though that is a worthy goal), but start small. Take a verse or two and press it into your heart. Let it shape your thoughts, guard you from sin, and draw your eyes toward Christ.
Dear Christian, our God is worthy of all praise, and to know Him is the greatest pursuit of our lives. Therefore, having His life-giving Word abiding in us will enrich our souls beyond our deepest imagination, as it centers our hearts and minds on Him.
-Shaun M. Hewlett