Why You Need to Memorize Scripture
Three reasons to memorize Scripture faithfully.
From time to time, I review this post about Vern Poythress’ Scripture memory habits. While I had been faithful in my own personal Scripture memory the last couple of years, I slacked recently in reviewing the verses I had memorized. This post provided me with the example I needed to get going again.
I doubt that I am the only person who struggles to be consistent in his Scripture memory. Scripture memory has no deadline and rarely does anyone ask us how we are doing in our Scripture memory. It doesn’t feel urgent in the way that many other things in our lives do. Scripture memory falls into what Stephen Covey would call the “important but not urgent” category. We need to memorize Scripture. We must memorize Scripture, but we fail to grasp the importance of it until we are in a situation where knowing God’s word by heart would be helpful.
We need to remember why Scripture memory is so vitally important for our walk with the Lord, so here are seven reasons that you need to store God’s word up in your heart.
Memorize Scripture to Know God
A billboard near my hometown displayed a Bible with the caption, “When all else fails, read the instructions” and many pastors have described the Bible as “God’s manual for life.” While these sound like fine ways to describe Scripture, they miss something very important. The last time you put together a piece of furniture and used the instructions to guide you, what did you do with the instructions once you were finished? You probably threw them in the garbage or filed them away in a drawer in case you needed them again. In the same way, I have a repair guide for my car which I only consult when I have a problem. I have never known anyone who read instructions from IKEA and worshipped the author.
The Bible has a lot to say about living a wise life that will bring great joy, but first and foremost it introduces us to the God who is worthy of the love and affection of our whole hearts. The Bible’s first verse introduces him, and the whole of Scripture is a testimony to his character, glory, love for his people, and plan to redeem a people for himself.
The only way for us to know God is for him to reveal himself; we are not going to climb up and pull him down. He must disclose himself to us. He has done this generally in creation. Romans 1 says that we can look at the world which God has made and see something of God’s power and glory–yet, it is in the pages of Scripture that we see God the most clearly.
Memorizing Scripture fans the flames of our love for God because every page testifies to who he is. I knew a dear saint who learned that her son died. As she heartbreakingly absorbed the news, she responded, "The Lord gives and the Lord takes away. Blessed be the name of Lord." Even in her pain and sorrow, in the weeks after his death, she spoke to almost anyone who would listen about the goodness and grace of God in sustaining her during her trial. How does someone go through this kind of trial and speak about the goodness of God? It doesn't happen because she's been reading an instruction manual, but because she has been drinking deeply from the ever-flowing fountain of God’s revelation for decades.
Memorize Scripture to Fight Against Sin
Every Christian struggles with sins that they don’t understand how to fight against. We feel Paul’s struggle in Romans 7 when he says that he does the things he doesn’t want to do and can’t do the things he knows he should do. How can we fight against sin daily when it seems like sin always wins?
God has not left his people powerless in our war against sin. He gave us his Spirit to empower us and he gave us his word. In the Bible’s longest chapter, Psalm 119, the Psalmist says, “I have hidden your word in my heart that I may not sin against you.” Here he gives us one powerful function of God's word: when we store it up in our hearts, it aids us in our battle against our indwelling sin.
God’s word reminds us of the futility of sin and the beauty of walking in holiness. When we face temptation, God’s word convicts us of the foolishness of succumbing to it. When we face a difficult ethical decision, God’s word shows us which way we need to go. This only happens, however, as we read, study, memorize, and meditate on God’s word. The Spirit brings these things that we have committed to memory to the forefront of our minds and helps us fight against the sins that so easily entangle us. (Hebrews 12:2)
Memorize Scripture to Grow in Godly Character
Just as Scripture reminds us of the sins we should avoid, it points us to the areas in which we need to grow. In Romans 12:2, Paul tells us that instead of being conformed to the thought patterns of this present world, we should be transformed. The word for “transformation,” from which we get the English word “metamorphosis,” is only used in three other places in the New Testament. Two of them refer to Jesus’ transfiguration, and the other refers to the process by which we are transformed into the same image of Christ “from one degree of glory to another.” (2 Corinthians 3:18)
In Romans 12:2, Paul also says that this process of transformation happens “by the renewing of your mind.” For many years, Christians have believed that the motivation for our walk with the Lord comes from our emotions. For example, when I was in college in the late 1990s, the slogan for our campus ministry one year was “Are You Excited?” The problem with an emotional approach to the faith is that it cannot sustain Christian growth for the long haul. No one can stay excited long enough to follow Jesus faithfully.
Instead, we need to see the central role that our minds play in our conformity to Christ’s character. Scripture does not speak about the difference between believing with the mind and believing with the heart. Instead, in Scripture, the heart is the center of our intentions, thoughts, and will. When we bathe our minds in Scripture, it changes the way that we think and the way that we live. It helps us to better understand what we are to love and what we are to reject. This process of reading and reflecting on Scripture forms and shapes our character.
Related Posts:
”Psalms for Men Who are Struggling”
For Further Reading:
Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life by Donald S. Whitney