Does Your Study Stick?

 “and how from infancy you have known the holy writings, which are able to give you wisdom for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.”  2 Timothy 3:15

“So put away all filth and evil excess and humbly welcome the message implanted within you, which is able to save your souls.”  James 1:21

 What was your Bible study like today? What passage did you look into? Do you even remember it? James 1:23-25 has a very interesting analogy I’d like to look deeper into today…

For if someone merely listens to the message and does not live it out, he is like someone who gazes at his own face in a mirror. For he gazes at himself and then goes out and immediately forgets what sort of person he was. But the one who peers into the perfect law of liberty and fixes his attention there, and does not become a forgetful listener but one who lives it out - he will be blessed in what he does.  (James 1:23-25 NET)

 I have struggled with the metaphorical aspect of these verses for over a decade. In 2009 my dentist, while trying to diagnose the source of my jaw pain, said, “Ooohhhh.” I’ll tell you, folks, that one vowel can be very expensive and involved! In this case it led to eight years of braces with major reconstructive jaw surgery 2 years in. This was not a fun season, and it had some pretty major effects on my appearance.

 I went through several stages in between these two photos, the first of which straightened my bottom teeth making me look a lot like a fish with a severe underbite.

 What I’m getting at here, is I began to not recognize myself in the mirror! I would look in the mirror, walk away, and forget what I looked like, literally. It took years for me to stop doing a double take when I saw myself. To this day, the image I have of myself in my head does not match what I see in the mirror at all.

 Like this, I spent years of my Bible study diligently reading a scripture each morning and then going about my day and not giving it another thought. If you had asked me at lunch time what I was studying, I couldn’t have told you.

 Today, I have the additional struggle of short-term memory loss. I can be in the middle of something, making the bed or dinner, turn around, and completely forget what I’m doing. But ask me what I’m studying in the Bible and you’d better have a minute because I’ll be so excited to break down the last 2-4 weeks worth of scriptures! How can I remember now, when my memory is so much worse, and I couldn’t remember before? Study and application. If I just read something and walk away, woosh! It’s left my brain. But if I take time, and I look into it, and I put together a post to share with you, then it’s stuck good! Really, it’s not about me and what I’m doing at all. When I slow down and take time to listen to what the Holy Spirit has to teach me, the things He draws out are so exciting and enlightening that I can’t help but remember them!

Here's the Thing: When you give your life to Christ and accept His sacrifice on your behalf, He comes to live in your heart. He doesn’t want to sit quietly in there doing nothing. Would you? He has so much to share with you, and He’d love to do it if you will just, “…humbly welcome the message implanted within you…” (James 1:21)