The following is a guest post written by my wife as she reflects upon her grandmother’s battle with Alzheimer’s.

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Scripture memorization is a highly important discipline that often gets overlooked. Especially since nowadays with access to information at our fingertips every second of every day, we have unconsciously outsourced some parts of our memory to the Internet.

However, the Scripture has a lot to say about our mind and how it should be dedicated and devoted to Him. Matthew 22:37-38 says, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment.” Also, Psalm 119:11 says, “I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.”

But why does the Psalmist say to store the word in the heart instead of the mind?

Perhaps it is for if our mind fails from old age, an accident, or an illness.

I started to think about this a couple of years ago when my grandmother moved to live with us after my grandfather died. One of the main reasons for her leaving Colombia to come to live in the U.S. with us is that she needed more attention due to her diagnosis of Alzheimer’s. Thankfully in this season she is mostly dealing with the loss of short-term memory, but it’s still hard to see and adapt to it, knowing that it will be more challenging as time goes on.

As I started to spend more quality time with my grandmother, I noticed that every time she was by herself, freely walking in our backyard or just focusing on a task like sweeping, that she would start singing worship songs, which I remembered hearing as a child when I visited her home.

I did not pay much attention to it until my daughter, who was four at the time, started singing these songs as well. One song in particular was written to be emotionally satisfying rather than to be theologically accurate. My daughter then had questions about the songs, and the three of us had great discussions about it, in which my grandma agreed and understood that that song was more self-focused than God-focused.

As time passed, however, she would go back to that song, singing it again and again and again. We would again discuss that song, since I think it was not the most theological and would prefer that it not be sung around my daughter. She would agree with me, but then be singing it again 10 minutes later.

That was when I realized that her heart and my mind were already fully set in the things of the Lord and his Word. Thankfully, she loves Him, serves Him, and was able to grow in knowing Him for many years, and that one less-than-ideal song does not change any of that. But still, presently, there is not much new information that can change what she’s already set in her heart. The truths that she stored in her heart are not just about a particular song but the knowledge of the Lord and how He is to be worshiped. And her theology will define how she responds to difficult situations and how she lives for the rest of her life. The songs that she sings, kneeling at her bed to pray every night, going to church every Sunday, and reading her Bible every day for multiple hours. All those small habits have become the backbone of her theology and, thus, her life.

And they are also the only thing her mind knows now.

I had similar experiences with some church members.

One was an older gentleman who was in and out of different medical facilities, and his mind was escaping him. Yet every time he was alone or just resting, he would always go back to the same few hymns. Those hymns were what his heart, mind, and soul knew. They were his place of comfort and security.

There was also another older member who was losing her hearing and having health issues, but every Sunday, she was there at church in her best clothing. Even though she would sometimes have a hard time hearing, she would say she wanted everyone to know whose side she was on.

The hard reality is that our bodies will fail us. That is the difficult consequence of living in our sin-scarred world. The question that we should be asking is: what am I doing to store the Word of God in my heart and not just in my mind?

To pass from the mind into the heart, our knowledge of the Lord has to become a habitual part of who we are, a part of our character. If your mind were to fail today, would it be habitual for your lips to sing praises to the Lord? Would your mind habitually meditate day and night on His law? Would your feet habitually take you without reproach to the House of the Lord? Would it be a joy to fellowship with other saints?

As you read this, I want to encourage you to make storing of His word your great priority. Sadly, our bodies will fail us, but even if you are blessed with a strong mind throughout your life, what you hear now matters, what you dwell on now matters, and what you do daily matters. Your habits are shaping your heart, your mind, and your theology.

None of us can predict the future state of our minds or even if we will be gifted with old age, but we can plant seeds in the heart by developing godly habits so that if the mind fails, the heart will still know Whom and how to praise and to still seek His glory, saying evermore: soli Deo gloria.