Dual Conviction

In the past few weeks I've been convicted in two major areas where I've been a slacker. First, yesterday at church the sermon (by guest preacher Crawford Loritts) was based on 1 Thessalonians 5:17. No doubt you can figure out where this part is going. Anyway, what really hit me more than anything was in the introduction, when he made the point that prayer is an acknowledgment of our total dependence on God. There is an inverse relationship between prayer and sinful, self-satisfying pride; the more prideful we are, the less we will pray.

The second area I've been really challenged in has been the study, and especially memorizing, of scripture. As my incredibly awesome wife has described, the importance of scripture memory has been hammered home to her, and she's been doing an incredible job of it (in just the past few months, she's memorized Hebrews, 1 2 and 3 John, several Psalms, and is now working on Colossians). So I've been inspired by how quickly she's been able to do this just by working at it in a disciplined manner. She's quite amazing, you know.

But what really brought the point home was seeing this. Adorable kid, and absolutely convicting. Just by listening to the same chapter every day for a few weeks, he was able to recite it basically word-perfect. And he's only four! I don't know how many times I've heard people use the excuse that they just can't memorize scripture (yet learning song lyrics or fantasy football stats never seems to be a problem) - well, this just blows that excuse completely away, doesn't it? As for me, I doubt anyone who's known me longer than a few minutes would ever buy that excuse from me anyway. No, the reason I haven't memorized long passages or whole books like that is sheer laziness.

So guess what I'll be making a lot more time for from now on.