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As I wrote yesterday, a highlight of the Key Men’s Invitational (KMI) men’s conference that I just attended was listening to Max Barnett, 82 years old, talking about quiet time and scripture memory. He said, “I wish I could convince all Christians to practice these two disciplines.” Yesterday I captured a bit of what he said about quiet time. Today I’d like to say a word about scripture memory.

Whenever I’m around the old Navigators, like Max, they all say the same thing when asked something like, “Why are you still following Jesus and making disciples in your old age?” They always say, “Quiet time and scripture memory.” In my book Live the Adventure, I tell about Navigators Skip and Buzzie Gray, now in their late 80s, and Jerry White, now in his late 70s saying that very thing. Well-known author Dallas Willard wrote that if he were limited to one discipline, it would be scripture memory.

I encourage you to add scripture memory to your spiritual disciplines, and Max has a plan that makes it doable! He recommends memorizing one verse per week. You could choose it from your week’s quiet times, or from a sermon you want to remember, or any of a number of inspirations. You repeat it often the first day (Max says 35 times) so that you can say it perfectly, then you review it every day for 60 days. Then you’ll have it!

And here’s the good news. If you memorize a verse a week and review it daily for 60 days, the number of verses you’ll be reviewing daily is only eight! Again, that’s doable.

Your word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You! (Psalm 119.11, NKJV)