I spend 30 to 45 minutes almost every day working on memorizing Bible verses and reviewing those I have already memorized. I will probably up my goal to an even 60 minutes, one hour, seven days a week. I have 700 verses memorized well; my goal is to up that to 800 in the next year. I am presently 248th among about 100,000 people with this same memory app that I have. The app ranks every person in the memory program, giving points for each verse reviewed successfully. My goal is to be lower than 200th place by the end of the year.

So, what motivates me to pursue such a goal? Memorizing Bible verses is the most mentally fatiguing exercise that I do. It takes a great deal of self-motivation and self-control to keep this commitment every day, and I wouldn’t be able to do it if there wasn’t some very compelling reason motivating me. Let me mention five reasons;

Lately, I have noticed that forget things, mainly the names of people. We all forget things, but the problem has been growing noticeably. I also have had several friends my age who have been diagnosed with the beginning stages of dementia. In all of my studies, memorizing is the best therapy and prevention that there is for mental problems, so I am going to work hard on this so that the typical losses in mental sharpness that come with growing old aren’t part of my life.

A second reason for maintaining faithfulness to this discipline, which will take an hour every day, is that the verses I am memorizing are the Word of God, the Mind of Christ, and the Sword of the Spirit. The Word of God is living, active, supernatural, and works in the core of my being, spirit, and soul. I desire to become like Jesus in character, think like Him, feel like Him, and act like Him in every way. I believe the Word of God in my heart will transform me into the Image and likeness of Jesus Christ, my Lord and Savior.

Tomorrow I will give you the remaining three reasons that motivate me to spend an hour every day memorizing God’s Word.