Lyrics in a Headband
January 15, 2008 4:33 pm Blogs
The Bible instructs that Christians are to be driven in our hearts by the Bible’s words as the very words of God. The perspective is that Scripture (the words of the Bible) has everything to do with every part of our life. To try and illustrate this, the Bible uses analogies and says to tie the words of the Bible on your hand, between your eyes, and put them over the door of your house (Deut 6:5-9; Prov. 7:2-3). The ancient Jews and some orthodox ones today took those instructions literally and wore “phylacteries” or “tefillin.”
Now, we don’t think Christians today should have to wear phylacteries or tefillin, but everything should be driven by our love for God, whether it is the work of our hands, what we think and how we see things, or how we live in our house and raise our families. Simply put, it is a heart issue. So what Christians have done for centuries to help have the words of the Bible drive our lives, is to memorize it.
To memorize is to take a sentence or a paragraph or more and know it so that you can quote it by memory. We do this all the time with music. How many songs do you have memorized word for word? It is ridiculous how many song lyrics I have stuck in my head. I can not have heard a song for years and if it comes on the radio, I know every word. So the issue is not whether we are able to memorize but whether we are dedicated and love the Bible and its God enough to listen to it and read it frequently to memorize it.
I still remember the first Bible verse I ever memorized, Proverbs 3:5-6 “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make straight your paths.” I can’t tell you how many times this verse comes to my head. Recently, I made up a tune for it and I sing it to my daughter daily.
In over 10 years now of pastoral ministry…I have seen time and time again, people who get excited about Jesus for awhile and serve him for a little while…and then it fades away. There are a lot of people who I have known and ministered to that have made professions of faith and been apart of Jesus’ church and his people for a given time but then made bad decisions in their lives, leaning on their own understanding, and end up turning away from Jesus, His church, and his people. It is heartbreaking. The lure is so strong to lean on our own understanding.
I realize that my daughter’s greatest need her entire life long is to trust Jesus. To stick close to him and not think she knows better and do what she wants, serving herself, instead of doing what God wants and worshipping him. I cannot save my daughter and I cannot save any of the people I pastor, only Jesus can. So the goal of my life is to teach her and to teach all of you to trust Jesus, to put all of your faith alone in Jesus for everything. It is the only hope for any of our lives.
So how do you let the Bible drive your life and keep you from leaning on your own understanding? Put your faith in Jesus and memorize the words of the Bible. If you have never done this I suggest you start today. Pick a verse, hand write it out on a little piece of paper, put it in your pocket and read it several times a day for several days in a row until you know that verse. And as you do that, think about it and meditate on it and let it conform and drive your life.
- Pastor Duane
To listen and/or download my latest sermon CLICK HERE