My New Year Resolution

I'm not big on New Year resolutions. Too often, I find that I'm trying to externally patch some problem by simply resolving to stop rather than dealing with whatever deeper root cause. This being the case, I too often fail at whatever I am undertaking because I'm attempting to treat a symptom rather than the problem.

All that to say that I have a New Year resolution of sorts this year, and it's one that I would recommend to everyone. Timothy Brister, in collaboration with The Resurgence, has begun a project called "Partnering to Remember." The goal this year is to memorize the entire book of Philippians beginning on January 1, to be completed by Easter Sunday (April 24). The Resurgence has created a very helpful PDF that divides the text up into small chunks of 5-8 verses for each of the sixteen weeks. The sections of this PDF are sized so that they can be cut and taped into a Cahier Moleskin for maximum portability and ease of study.


I know that memorizing and entire book of the Bible seems daunting, but what more worthy way to spend your spare time? I'm a little nervous that I won't be able to stick it out for 4 months, but why let that stop me? Come January 1, I'll start on the most ambitious memorization project I've ever undertaken. Tim Brister:

Let’s face it. Memorizing Scripture can be a difficult discipline, especially memorizing long passages of Scripture. In our fast-paced lives of multi-tasking with any number of things vying for our attention, there is a real danger for the Word of God to get squeezed out of our daily lives. More than any other time, Christians need to partner together for the purpose of internalizing Scripture, encouraging one another to abide in the words of Christ, and remembering the weighty truths that center us in God’s work in our lives.

I encourage you to join me on January 1 as I begin to memorize the book of Philippians.