Romans

I decided that I want to start memorizing Romans.

Crazy? Maybe. Should I start with something easier? Maybe. But I think I need to start really digging into the Word, and Romans as a book has influenced me more than any other in my life. When I was in High School I met every Sunday after church with a small group of friends, where we carefully went through the Word. I am not quite sure how long this lasted (about two years?) but by the end we had covered Romans and both Corinthian books in depth, along with some other books, I think. It was at this time that I had my first real accountability to fellow believers, and when I first began to really understand and formulate my own faith. Words like "righteousness" and "justification," for the first time, actually MEANT something: they were no longer fill-in-the-blank lyrics for sappy worship songs.

Memorizing scripture is vital to our Christian faith, but in the last several years I have been guilty of laziness in this area. Psalm 1:2 has not accurately described me. Consider the following:

Joshua 1:8, "This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success."

Psalm 119:9-11, "How can a young man keep his way pure? By keeping it according to Your word. With all my heart I have sought You; Do not led me wander from Your commandments. Your word I have treasured in my heart, That I may not sin against You."

John 14:26, "But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you." (This may be referring to the apostles being able to remember the words of Christ so they could compose scripture, but God's spirit DEFINITELY brings scripture to our rememberance in our daily lives, too.)

I think I am going to use this medium as a way to help me as I work through the text bit-by-bit. I will probably post my thoughts on the passage I memorize, and I'll try to include cross-references that I come across, or questions that I have. If you read this feel free to let me know your thoughts on the text, or on my comments.