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I work with a ministry that teaches people how to memorize Scripture in a way that also helps them understand the Scripture's meaning and speak it in a way that helps others understand it too. Some people use a memory technique called a "memory palace" in order to memorize Scripture, especially longer passages. Memory palaces involve picturing things in your mind, often in a room, and "placing" things in that room to symbolically remind you of what you want to remember. Then, when you want to remember the passage, you imagine yourself walking through the room and seeing the items you've placed there as reminders of what comes next in the passage. It's never really been my thing when it comes to memory, but in order to get better at this so I can help those who do benefit from this technique, I have been thinking a lot recently about how symbols, items and actions can represent ideas and how they help us to remember more complex truths.
This week, we will be a little creative. There are different items in my house that remind me of truths, because I have built these connections in my memory. It isn't necessarily a memory palace, but they could be part of one if the task called for it. Rather, think of them as real life metaphors. This week I will share some with you, and perhaps in the future when you see these items in your home or do these actions, you will also be reminded of these spiritual truths.
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Just a couple weeks ago was the 70th anniversary of the martyrdom of the Ecuador 5, five brave men who were martyred in the Amazon by the very tribe they were trying to reach with the gospel. One of them, Jim Elliot, once wrote:
"Father, make of me a crisis man. Bring those I contact to decision. Let me not be a milepost on a single road; make me a fork, that men must turn one way or another on facing Christ in me."
I am always challenged by this quote. Jim Elliot desired so strongly to be a light for Jesus, and he was. His evangelism strategy wasn't passive. He didn't just live a nice "Christian life" and hope that someone else would take notice and ask him why he was different. He was active. He actively sought to be a mouthpiece for the Lord with the message of the gospel always on his lips, so much so that when others met him that they most certainly would be confronted with the gospel and compelled to decide if they would follow Jesus or continue in their sin and deny the cross.
While of course Jim Elliot is referring to a fork in the road when he says "make me a fork", I often remember this quote when I empty the dishwasher or prepare to enjoy my lunch and reach for a fork from the drawer. It serves as that occasional reminder for me to not live passively for Jesus but to let the message of the gospel always be on my lips. Forks are useful tools that you use everyday and so they can serve as a regular reminder.
It reminds me of this verse: "Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God."
As Christ's ambassadors, let us implore those around us to turn to Christ.
Let us be forks.
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