My Memory Moleskine: Philippians 1:27-30

I (along with a whole lot of other people) am now four weeks into memorizing the book of Philippians. When I started the project back on January 1, I wasn’t sure how things would look by the end of January. Would I be right on track, a little bit behind—or would I have called it quits thinking it was too hard?

Well, I’ve not called it quits, and I’m a week ahead on the schedule, which is pretty cool. But I did find this week to be one of the most challenging so far, despite having only four verses to memorize. Wednesday, I thought I’d done a pretty good job of getting Phil 1:29-30 down –

For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him, but also suffer for his sake, engaged in the same conflict that you saw I had and now hear that I still have.

(And yes, I did type that from memory if you’re wondering.)

Thursday morning, though, I went through a run-through of the chapter and after I got finished reciting verse 28… I just blanked.

All 43 words. Poof! Completely disappeared.

That was incredibly annoying.

One of the really great things that I’ve seen come out of this project so far has been seeing other people start to gain a desire to memorize Scripture as well. Last Friday I was surprised to learn that while I was off at the Truth Xchange Think Tank, my men’s group had decided to take up the discipline of memorizing Scripture. Their choice? Philippians 4:6-7.

One of the older gentlemen in the group mentioned to me during our prayer meeting on Tuesday that he’s starting to memorize the whole book, too.

It’s very cool to see how God is using this project in the lives of other people.

Next week: Philippians 2 (and if I can muster up the courage, I’ll even try reciting Phil 1:1-30 on video).

How was this week of partnering to remember for you?

Posted by Aaron Armstrong

Aaron is the author of several books for adults and children, as well as multiple documentaries and Bible studies. His latest book, I'm a Christian—Now What?: A Guide to Your New Life with Christ is available now.