Thank you, Mummy!

Reading: Psalm 119:1-16

"I have hidden Your word in my heart

that I might not sin against You" (Psa 119:11)

Memorizing is easy in childhood and youthhood. The multiplication tables we memorize in school stay with us to old age. Childhood memories are like a nail on the green tree! John Newton (1725-1807) was a hymnwriter and an Anglican pastor. He played a leading part in the abolition of the slave trade. "Amazing Grace" is his hymn. Hear his testimony: "My mother stored my memory, which was then very retentive, with many valuable pieces, chapters and portions of Scripture, Catechisms, hymns and poems. When the Lord at length opened my eyes, I found great benefit from the recollections of them!" How many children today can testify so about their parents? On this day which happens to be my birthday, my younger brother Christopher and I can certainly hail our late mother for it! So will our daughter remember my wife for sitting with her to teach the Bible.

I urge youngsters to take advantage of the formative years to memorize Scripture passages. You certainly can't be too busy to memorize just one verse a day! What an asset to add over 300 verses every year to your memory! You will be full of joy, wisdom and discretion. Fleeing lustful desires and overcoming Satan become easy (Psa 119:9,11; 1 Jn 2:14b). Dr. Billy Graham (1918- ) tells us, "Like Joseph storing up grain during the years of plenty to be used during the years of famine that lay ahead, may we store up the truths of God's Word in our hearts as much as possible, so that we are prepared for whatever suffering we are called upon to endure!"

It is suggested that the initial memorisation of Bible verses is done in one's mother tongue. As a school boy I memorized Scripture passages in Tamil. It then became easy for me to memorize them in English when I entered college at the age of sixteen. Today I enjoy the advantage of knowing both English and Tamil Bibles, and writing devotional articles in both the languages. The hours spent for the memorisation exercise have been a lifetime investment. South Indians who hated the Hindi language and failed in Hindi exams started studying this language with intense interest in order to watch Hindi movies! Everything is possible if only we have a heart to do it!

Carry the Bible today; it will carry you tomorrow!

(Mummy told me this while I was a teenager.)

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