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MATTHEW 25:21 “HIS LORD SAID TO HIM, WELL DONE, GOOD AND FAITHFUL SERVANT; YOU WERE FAITHFUL OVER A FEW THINGS, I WILL MAKE YOU RULER OVER MANY THINGS. ENTER INTO THE JOY OF YOUR LORD.” (NKJV, KJV)
“His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful slave. You were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter the joy of your master.’” (NASB, NET)
“His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’” (NIV)
2 Timothy 4:7 “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.”
When I get to heaven and stand before Jesus, I want to hear Him say, “Well done, David!” I want Him to have found me to have been a good and faithful servant.
I’d love to be able to say I am proud that I have competed this project and gotten to Chapter 100…one hundred Bible memory verses I hope I have taught you and maybe inspired you to memorize. But, any time I even remotely allow any pride to sneak in and think of any of this as my accomplishment, I am reminded by the Spirit that this has been His work and not mine.
I do not know how the Lord plans to use these four books that I now conclude writing. I have to be honest…I have given most of them away. I have several who are very encouraging and are dedicated to putting this discipline into practice. But, if I ever expected my writings here to turn into a “best seller” that people can’t get enough of, I know I am going to be disappointed.
Every time in the last couple of years I whine at the Lord and tell Him, “Lord, no one is going to want these books,” He reminds me that my job was to obey and write them and leave the results to Him. I hope I have been faithful to do that.
Having said that…and having reached the one hundredth recommended Bible memory verse and one hundredth lesson…I know it will be profitable to remember what we were trying to do. I hope, here, to finish well.
1. We have reached 100. Remarkably, as I got close to the end, I recognized that there are a lot more than 100 Bible verses we could have chosen. As a matter of fact, the closer I got to the end, the more verses I found that I wanted to include. I can’t promise you a Book V. But I know I will end my life having memorized much more than one hundred verses. I hope you will too!
2. I readily recognize that this goal of memorizing 100 Bible verses was not the goal of everyone. Remember, it has been a Christian life discipline I have enjoyed for a long time and plan to continue. That may have inspired you to make it your discipline as well. Others, however, I recognized may have just liked the readings or enjoyed the use of what we have written here as good Bible study or good lesson plans for classes or Bible study groups. That is great. Hope it has been a great tool for that.
3. Hopefully, some of these writings have been inspirational in demonstrating that the Lord definitely has goals and challenges for all of us as we try to faithfully walk before Him and desire to become like Him. Jesus quoted Scripture throughout His earthly ministry. We should want to do the same…not just because it can help us and others whose lives we touch to be drawn closer to Him, but also because His Word continues to be demonstrated as alive, “God-breathed” and able to inspire us to know where to go and what to do for Him next.
4. I have found great value in finishing this project well to the end. I know that the goal of hiding His Word in our hearts never ends and I hope to be able to continue to do it until my last day here on earth. But a great blessing I have received from doing this is the joy of finishing well. I have always struggled with long, involved schools, training courses and involved projects throughout my life. It is easy to give up or let down some intensity when it seems like I would never get to the end. In this project…as I hope I find for the rest of my life…I hope I have found that I have been able to finish well. The Lord rewards faithfulness. I hope “all who come behind me will have found me faithful.”
5. I know there will be a reward for my faithfulness…and yours. The Bible promises that. I have not finished writing these books for any rewards. I honestly do not expect any from the world. My talents at writing…whatever those may be…will never make me rich. Not a surprise to me.
My brother Dan insisted on buying the first book I sold. I love his enthusiasm, and maybe misguided hope that these books will one day sell millions and he would have the first one sold. I know that the true rewards for finishing this job, however, will be spiritual and not physical.
Some of the spiritual rewards the Lord gives us for being faithful to hard, long-worked jobs might be nothing more than knowing we have pleased Him. I have to tell you, He is pleased when we put in the long labor of hiding His Word in our hearts. He often speaks through what we hid there long ago even more than He does through His gentle voice. I love that and I hope you have gone far enough in this process/discipline to have found that true for you too.
Remember: As we have continued to remind ourselves throughout the writing and reading of these four books, we hoped to learn seven different reasons to memorize the Word.
Seven Reasons to Memorize the Word
To not sin – Psalm 119:11
To receive guidance – Psalm 119:105
To minister and reach others - Romans 10:14-17
To defend ourselves, especially against the devil - Hebrews 4:12
To use and practice in praise and worship - Psalm 145
To comfort and give us peace - Psalm 23
To draw nearer to our Lord – Psalm 73:28
For whatever reason you may have chosen to allow these memory verses and lessons to have touched your life, I hope it doesn’t end there. I hope you might be inspired to learn and memorize more and more of His Word your whole life. I hope you have enjoyed the encouragement and strength that comes from hiding His Word deep in your heart…for todays struggles, tomorrow’s challenges and for those whose lives you might be led to touch with them. And finally, I hope you quickly see the Lord’s smile upon so worthy an endeavor as memorizing His word that it will manifest itself in rewards in your life that you never imagined.
Bless the Lord for His faithfulness. Bless you as you have been and will continue to be faithful to Him. Bless us all as we are inspired to serve Him and follow Him in every avenue of our lives for the rest of our days. As we have been faithful to Him over a few things, we can count on Him to make us ruler over many things and to welcome us into the joy of the Lord. Like me, I hope you can’t wait to hear Him say to you, “well done, good and faithful servant.”
Questions to consider: Do you have a hard time finishing life’s tasks well? What reasons have you found for giving up before reaching the finish line? Can you think of other memory verses you might want to add to these 100 we have memorized together? Do you really think the Lord will use the words, “Well done good and faithful servant” when we get to heaven? What “races” in this life have you finished well? What do you think those “many things” that the Lord might make us ruler over are?
Other Verses to Study: Hebrews 12:1 “…lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.” 1 Cor 9:24 “…those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it.” Phil 3:14 “I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” Galatians 6:4 “But let each one examine his own work, and then he will have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another.” Hebrews 3:14 “For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end.”
 
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