They delight in doing everything God wants them to, and day and night are always meditating on his laws and thinking about ways to follow him more closely.
–Psalm 1:2 TLB
Hold tightly to God’s Word: listen to the preached Word of God, read the Word of God, and study the Word of God. Two ways to allow God’s Word to dwell richly in you.
Memorize the Word of God. Psalm 119:11 says, “Your word I have treasured in my heart, that I may not sin against You.” Memorizing God’s Word is like depositing money in the bank. If you make regular deposits of Scripture in your heart, you’ll have something to draw on to say no to temptation. You might say, “Pastor, I can’t even remember where I put my keys. How am I going to memorize Scripture?” Let’s say I challenged you to memorize Colossians 3, and I promised that if you were able to do it, I’d give you a check for $100,000. Do you think you could learn Colossians 3? It’s not a question of ability; it’s a question of motivation. Think about the emotional, spiritual, and even financial cost of losing your family, losing your church, losing your reputation, or dishonoring the name of Jesus Christ. That ought to motivate you to make Scripture memorization a priority in your life.
Finally, you have to meditate on the Word of God. That doesn’t mean sitting around in a trance. The Hebrew word for “meditate” means to mutter. The picture is of somebody who is so saturated with Scripture that they’re continually muttering it under their breath. Psalm 1:2 says, “They delight in doing everything God wants them to, and day and night are always meditating on his laws and thinking about ways to follow him more closely” (TLB). What happens to a person who meditates on God’s Word? The psalmist continued, “They are like trees along a riverbank bearing luscious fruit each season without fail. Their leaves shall never wither, and all they do shall prosper” (v. 3 TLB). Picture a tree that’s green and blooming even in the middle of the desert–a tree so massive that it can’t be blown down by any storm. That’s the success that comes with meditating on God’s Word.
Do you desire stability in your life, no matter your circumstances? Do you desire productivity and meaningfulness in your day-to-day activities? Do you desire consistency in your relationship with God? Both Paul and the psalmist said the key to a life that is marked by stability, productivity, and consistency is allowing the word of Christ to dwell richly within you (Colossians 3:16).
