James

I recently joined a Bible study on Wednesday nights where we're studying the book of James. We're going through a Beth Moore study book called James: Mercy Triumphs. It's an eight week format and each week has five days to complete during that week. Each day there's a lesson to read, questions to answer, and Scripture to look up. I have to admit, it's a lot! Usually I spend about 30 minutes each morning doing my devotions; sometimes less if I slept in too late or I'm pressed for time in the morning. This study book takes much longer. Sometimes it takes me over an hour to complete the day's lesson!

It's worth it though. It's more in-depth than I would do on my own. Beth goes back to the Greek to clarify things, she quotes Biblical scholars, and she gives personal insight from the months she spent studying the book of James. It's been really cool to get a few different perspectives on the Scripture.

Another thing that's different about this study is that Beth designed it with different levels of participation. For instance, you can just attend the weekly meetings (level 1), you can attend the weekly meetings and do the homework (level 2), etc. Well I was reading through the different levels in the introduction thinking, "yeah, I can do all these". Then I got to level five. Level 5 included all of the previous stuff plus memorizing the Book of James. My jaw literally dropped. My first thought was "that's crazy". I mean, I don't usually take the time to memorize one verse, let alone an entire book! Who has the time or energy for that sort of thing? Besides, what's the point? I can grab my Bible and read James whenever I want.

Then I kept reading. The very next thing Beth wrote was this: Trying to picture some of your faces almost has me tickled. That made me smile because I'm sure the expression on my face was hilarious. I was a mix of shock and disbelief. I kept reading. Beth said that committing to all five levels would make the Book of James live in the marrow of your bones- probably for the rest of your life. She took on this challenge herself and had some encouraging words about it: Because God led me to take this challenge, I've recited the five chapters aloud more times than I can count in the process of writing this study. The exercise continues to bless me beyond what I could have imagined.

At the end of the little introductory segment, she asked which level seems doable for you. I circled level four. Then she hit me between the eyes again! She challenges everyone to go one level above what seems reasonably attainable for them. She asks you, if you're willing, to stretch yourself one more level. So finally I gave in and decided I'm going to try to memorize some of James. To be honest, I don't know if I'll get through the entire book, but what I've memorized so far has been rich and encouraging.

Memorizing Scripture rather than just reading it causes me to focus on every single word. And since I have to repeat the verses every day to make them stick in my mind, I keep thinking about the concepts in those verses. It's been a wonderful experience to dwell on the same verses for a few weeks. They start to sink in and come to my mind all the time. It's both encouraging and convicting! Anyway, I guess the point of this post is that memorizing Scripture isn't a waste of time. It's been a blessing to me in the past few weeks, just like it was for Beth. I encourage you, if you haven't done this lately, try memorizing a few verses. Read them out loud. Write them down. Say them to yourself every day. If you don't know where to start, you can start with James!