Don't Let It Slip

[00:00:07] Hey everybody. Pastor Chuck Allen, back with another weekday podcast on this Tuesday. And I want to talk about don't let it slip. [00:00:14] One of the first memory verses that I remember as a kid learning a scripture from a Bible was Proverbs 3:1. [00:00:23] So on this Tuesday morning, whether you're riding down the road or you're on a treadmill, or you're walking your dog, wherever you're at, I want us to go back and remember this time when I was a kid and I was learning this scripture and then fast forward to being, I don't know, maybe, I don't know, maybe 18, 19 years of age and I was driving home from Florida by myself. [00:00:55] I. I'd done this I don't know how many times. I'm about halfway home and I realized I couldn't remember the last 10 minutes of the drive, not cause anything had gone wrong. I just wasn't paying attention. [00:01:08] My hands knew the wheel, my foot knew the pedals, but my mind had just wandered somewhere way off. [00:01:15] It happens, right? [00:01:17] I mean, I, I don't know how it happens. Like I get in the car sometimes now and my brain gets somewhere else and, and I turn left when I should turn right, or at times I get into a rut and I just know this is the way I go and I should be going somewhere else. If that's happened to you, welcome to humanity. A lot of us live our lives like that. Not just in traffic, but in our faith. We learn something true. We learn something that's life giving. We hear it in a sermon, in a group, on a podcast. [00:01:48] And there's a season when we need that. [00:01:52] And then life gets crazy. And somewhere around mile marker 40 of a busy day or year or month, we drift right past it, even not even noticing that it's gone. [00:02:05] That's the danger that today's verse is written to protect us from. [00:02:11] Listen to Proverbs 3:1 again. First Bible verse I ever memorized. My child, never forget the things I taught you. Store my commands in your heart. [00:02:22] Now, the way I learned it as a kid, before I had a new living version, was remember my teachings and keep my commandments and length of days and years of life will be added to you. [00:02:33] Now this is a father talking to a son or a mentor talking to someone coming up behind them, somebody who loves this person enough to hand them something valuable and say, don't lose this, you know, matter of fact, lean into this, make sure you get this. [00:02:48] Well, I love the word store because it tells you something about how wisdom is supposed to work in life. You don't store something you're planning to use once you store something that you're going to need again and again. Well, I guess, unless you're a hoarder. [00:03:03] Flour in the pantry, gas in the tank. [00:03:06] You know the. For the. The. The. The number of the guy who fixes your dishwasher when it breaks. All those things. [00:03:13] Wisdom isn't a fact that you check off a list is supposed to live in you, stored in you ready when the moment comes. [00:03:22] And then when it happens and you need it, it's there not because you crammed for it, but because you stored it. [00:03:30] Here's what absolutely wrecks me and all that, though. The verse doesn't say stored in your notebook. It doesn't say stored in your phone or in your Bible app, or bookmark it for later. It says stored in your heart. [00:03:43] Personal. [00:03:44] It's right up close somewhere where everywhere you go, you cannot help but take it with you. [00:03:50] There are a lot of us that have scripture verses in our heads, and we can recite it at times, but it never makes the trip from our head to our heart. [00:03:59] So let me ask you something today, and ask it gently. [00:04:04] What's God taught you that you've let slip? [00:04:08] Like the 10 minutes in the car where you just are out of it? [00:04:13] Maybe it was a season of prayer that you used to be faithful to, or reading the scriptures daily, or a time of meditation or checking in with a friend. [00:04:22] Maybe it was a truth about who you are in Jesus that you believed with your whole heart a year ago, but now you're not so sure. [00:04:32] Maybe it's as simple as a promise that he gave you in a difficult season. And now that season's over and you've just kind of quite quietly forgotten that you needed it because life moved on. [00:04:42] Friend, don't let it slip. That's the whole heartbeat in this verse. Not because God's keeping score, but because he knows what you're going to need down the road. And he'd rather you have it stored up now than be scrambling for it later. [00:04:56] So today, just think of one thing, just one that God's already taught you. A verse, a lesson, a promise, something he proved true. And instead of letting it float around in the back of your mind, do something with it. Capture it. Write it down. Say it out loud. Record it so that it wakes you up tomorrow morning. Tell somebody else about over lunch. Because things that get spoken and shared have a way of staying stored. And things we keep silent have a way of quietly walking off. [00:05:25] You've been taught more than you think you have. [00:05:28] Don't lose it on the drive. Well, that's it for today, folks. Store it up, live it out, and I'll see you back here tomorrow on another weekday podcast. Bye, now.