Being Challenge Kids: An 11-Day Challenge to Be Like JesusSample

Habit 2: Jesus Studies Scripture

What do you think of when you hear the nickname “Smarty-pants”? You might think of a genius kid who does well in school. However, kids in Jesus’ time had another nickname for brilliant kids. It was "Cistern". A cistern is a pool or container of water that people collected to save for when they needed it. An intelligent Jewish kid was called a ‘cistern’ because they didn’t lose one drop of information.

Hebrew boys would begin memorizing Bible verses as soon as they could talk. It was very important to memorize because hardly anything was written down. It was rare to have a written document. Memorizing was almost more important than reading. Who needs to read when you have it all in your head?

We know that Jesus did the same thing. He began memorizing right away when he was young. I bet He even got called ‘cistern’ once in a while!

But He wasn’t after fame, and He wasn’t trying to be the best. Instead, He was studying Scripture so that when He began teaching and preaching, all that truth would be inside of Him already, ready to come out.

Ten percent of the words we have recorded that came out of the mouth of Jesus were when He quoted the Bible from the Old Testament. Jesus didn’t just study Scripture so that He and the Jews of His time could hear the truth. He studied the Bible so that you can listen to the fact today. Here it is:

God made the world, and it was perfect until sin. No matter how hard the Israelites tried to keep the rules, they kept making mistakes. Jesus came to pay for all those mistakes, big and small. By dying on the cross, He was able to wash us all clean from our sin.

So, whether your mind feels like a cistern (or maybe more like a cracked bowl), know that Jesus was a cistern for you. He could hold every last drop of sin, and when He died on the cross, He took care of all the sins of humankind.

Challenge: 10% of everything Jesus said was from Bible verses he memorized! Jesus spent time memorizing the Bible. Memorize a verse this week. You can choose a verse from the Scripture readings or pick your own to memorize.