Computers were supposed to make us smarter. Sometimes, I’m not so sure. I still remember my grandparent’s phone number, JE58011. I remember my phone number growing up, 817.277.9688. I used to remember tons of phone numbers. Now, my “smartphone” remembers them for me. I was writing my Friday update today and trying to fill in my assistant’s (Connie) number. I had someone read me her number from their smartphone. They also have her programmed into their phone on automatic dial. It's been years since I actually dialed the individual numbers to reach her.
The number I sent out was Connie’s number, at one time, but it is not her number any longer. The middle numbers were 806 and I think they triggered a memory of my phone number in Spearman which started with 806 so it sounded like the right number. It was not. My auto dial reaches her correctly at 903.292.6063. What happens when you no longer use a skill, like memorizing phone numbers? You lose the skill quickly. I think this is true Spiritually. When we were kids, we were taught to memorize poems, passages and scriptures and it was not as hard then as it is now.
Our church has been trying to learn 36 Bible memory verses for the past 9 years. These 36 verses have fed the church for a long time. The Navigators selected them to help the average Christian to be able to share Christ, talk about life in Christ, give an outline of the benefits of the Christian life and the Spiritual power available to the Christian.
Our staff meetings begin with a 8 minute test of a group of the verses. We hold ourselves to a rigorous standard. After we take the test, we score the test and then report our score to the rest of the staff. Three weeks ago, every staff member got a perfect score! It was the first time in 9 years of trying. We work at it, but it is hard. Especially since we added 6 verses in Spanish. Part of the cobwebs in my mind are the many other versions of the Bible in which I have memorized scripture (we have committed ourselves to the TNIV versions). I tend toward the King Kyle version.
Each morning, I look up the Bible verses using our text service and I am thankful for the simplicity. I study the text on a sophisticated Bible program that opens the Hebrew and Greek and multiple bibles at the same time. I used to do this with actual stacks of books open on my desk. Now, it happens in the blink of an eye (you should see my monitors). They have to be big to open the dozen books all at the same time and make them readable.
I love looking through people’s Bibles. I fear, in the years to come, that all of those signs of individual devotion will disappear as we read the Bible more and more on smartphones and tablets. Somehow, we need to keep a record of what God has said to us and rehearse it over and over so that we never forget the truth.