TMI

(Proverbs 4:13 KJV)  Take fast hold of instruction; let her not go: keep her; for she is thy life.

If you go for a walk in any residential neighborhood in large towns you will see many houses with signs claiming some form of private security.  All alarms and armed response are proclaimed.  People are concerned about keeping their valuables safe.  We don’t often think of the need to “keep” (guard NASB) (5341) what we have learned.  How do we do that?  Modern technology makes it easier to take notes and preserve them.  I have a feeling that makes us weaker in actually retaining things in our mind.  We get used to not having the discipline of memorizing so we don’t.  We also tend to save much more information because we can and the clutter makes it harder to remember what is there.  This would call us to thinking about what we hear and not accepting or rejecting it too quickly.  We might be more careful about what we file away.

If we want to keep our “instruction” (4148) readily available it should also involve review.  That is studying what we know and reinforcing our past learning.

As I get older I find that there are more and more things that I cannot remember or remember completely.  I am not talking about all the things I have totally forgotten.  I am talking about the things I know I knew but can’t bring back any more.  I had I Corinthians 13 memorized.  I had great experiences on tour with a teen choir.  I had fingerstyle songs down on my guitar.  Much of it slips away.  Some is because of age.  Some is because I don’t use it enough to keep it sharp. 

So?  Visit and guard the things that are important to you.  Spend time reading, reviewing, memorizing and meditating on the things of God.  It will pay dividends.