Memorizing Scripture: What Should I Memorize?

In the last post, I tried to challenge you to memorize scripture. Hopefully, you have been challenged to do so. But maybe you don’t know where to start. Or maybe you’ve been memorizing, but you’re not sure if you’re memorizing the right thing. I’d like to help you as you seek to learn God’s word and store it in your heart.

So what should you memorize? Well, John Piper offers the following suggestion about “shifting up” from your current place of memory:

Let me be very practical and challenge you to do something you perhaps have never done. If you are not a memorizer at all, shift up to memorizing a Bible verse a week. If you only memorize single verses, shift up to memorizing some paragraphs or chapters (like Psalm 1 or Psalm 23 or Romans 8). And if you have ventured to memorize chapters, shift up to memorize a whole book or part of a book. Few things have a greater effect on the way we see God and the world than to memorize extended portions of Scripture. (When I Don’t Desire God, p. 121)

So that’s the first part of the “what” answer. But I realize that’s not very helpful when you ask, “What verses/chapters/etc. should I memorize?” Again, Piper is helpful:

I’m not into mechanical memorizing. I’m into fighting the fight of faith. I want to memorize Scripture so that I can defeat the devil at 3 o’clock in the afternoon—that’s why I memorize! It’s so that I can minister to a saint in the hospital at 10 o’clock at night if I’ve forgotten my Bible. This is for my soul, and for the souls of others around me. (Bible Study Magazine, Sept.-Oct. '09, p. 12)

Piper’s advice (and I would agree) is to select passages that will help you grow in Christ-likeness. Also, memorize verses that will help you to help others in need. Don’t memorize verses just to memorize verses. Memorize verses that will challenge you to think on Christ, to point others to Christ, and most importantly to be like Christ.

Find scriptures that target direct temptations you face. Is lust a problem? Perhaps 2 Timothy 2:22 will help: “ So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.” Or maybe 1 Corinthians 6:18-20: “Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.”

How about anger? Ephesians 4:31-32 “Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.”

You get the picture. Target your temptations. This is exactly what Jesus did with the devil in the wilderness (Matthew 4:1-11). When challenged to abuse his power for selfish, belly-filling bread, he reminded himself and told the devil that man lives on the word of God, not bread alone. When challenged to put God to the test, Jesus quoted a passage about not testing God. When asked to bow down and worship Satan, Jesus responded with Scripture that stated that God alone is to receive worship.

Also, don’t forget about others as you memorize. Memorize verses that can help explain the gospel. Learn scripture that will help you minister to the hurting and broken. Store up passages that will help you encourage other believers.

John Piper’s church does yearly, church-wide memory program. It’s a verse or a few verses a week for the whole year. Maybe you can look through them. Maybe it’s a good place to start. Or, you can develop your own plan. But please, memorize God’s Word. Be ready to use it in the battle for the faith. We cannot survive without our greatest weapon.

In the next post, I hope to give you some ideas for how to memorize scripture. In the meantime, make a plan. Make a commitment. And by all means, stick to it.

Memorizing Scripture: Why Bother?

Recently, while reading John Piper's When I Don't Desire God: How to Fight for Joy, I was reminded of and challenged by the discipline of memorizing scripture. And so I thought I would pass the challenge along to you.

The most common response to this challenge can be summed up in two words: "Why bother?"

Is there any value in memorizing Scripture? Is there really a benefit to memorizing verses, paragraphs, chapters, or even whole books? Should I really memorize anything other than John 3:16? What's the point in it anyway?

There's really no point in challenging you to memorize Scripture if you don't think there's any point. So let me explain why I think it's important.

First of all, the Bible is called the "sword of the Spirit" (Ephesians 6:17). It's the only piece of the armor of God that is used to attack. What do we attack? Well, Satan and his minions. Remember that we are engaged in a spiritual battle. We are engaged in a battle against our sin. We are also engaged in a battle with the world's system of belief. How can we stand if we don't use our most powerful (and, actually, ONLY) weapon against it?

Also, many times in Scripture we see people being told to meditate on God's Word. To think about it. To consider what it is saying. Day and night. We're told not to let it leave our mouths. So it is important that we really try to make Scripture a regular part of our daily existence.

"Well, that's all well and good," you may say. "But I can do all that with a Bible in hand, can't I?"

Yes, you can. And, possibly not. Listen to the psalmist:

I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you. Psalm 119:11

How did the Psalmist fight sin? Was it with a regular quiet time? Was it with his scroll in hand so that he could browse through and find the verse that would kill the temptation before he found himself sinning? No, he killed sin by storing God's Word in his heart.

How is it that you kill the urge to speak angrily and harshly at work when your Bible is not near by? How do you conquer various temptations at 3 in the morning without the sword in hand, when it's dark and you don't want to move?

More importantly, how do you comfort someone who's hurting or wondering about God or needs some encouragement when you don't have your Bible handy? Can we really minister to other people or challenge ourselves to continue following God if we don't memorize Scripture?

I hope that you will take the challenge to memorize. I'll be posting more on some techniques that may help you along the way. But for now - take serious stock of your life. What areas of your life would benefit from memorizing Scripture? And, more importantly, what are you going to do about it?

Compassionate Risk in Ministry

40 And a leper came to him, imploring him, and kneeling said to him, “If you will, you can make me clean.” 41 Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand and touched him and said to him, “I will; be clean.” 42 And immediately the leprosy left him, and he was made clean. (Mark 1:40-43)

Our men's group is currently doing a Bible study on the Gospel of Mark. This is part of our weekly passage, and it struck me as having a lot to say about ministry.

Moved with Pity
This tells us of what our motivation should be in ministering grace to others. It's not pride; it's not because we can. Compassion should drive us to want to help others. Nothing else will do. Approaching a hurting person with arrogance or an attitude of "I completely understand this and you need to listen to what I have to say" will push them away from the gospel. Judging them is out of line with the character of our God. Jesus was moved with pity to help this man.

"I will"
We have to be willing to help. Compassion motivates us to serve. But we must be willing to serve whole-heartedly. We must be willing to sacrifice the time, the energy, the effort to be able to help effectively. This means we have to be willing to listen and understand as best as we can.

This is more than reading a book or a few stories of other people and then offering "help" based on what worked for them. It also means more than just saying "Well I heard about this, and this must be true for you..." This is not being willing to help. This is being judgmental. Especially if all you say is negative stuff.

"Be Clean"
Real solutions. Not pat answers, and definitely not our own misinformed advice. We need to provide people with Biblical hope - hope grounded in the gospel. Regardless of what their circumstances are, and regardless of what they have done, we need to point them to the real solution to their needs and problems.

He Touched Him
Jesus did more than just talk to this man. He touched him. He touched a leper, a man cut off from the people because of his infectious skin disease. Jesus risked "catching the disease" in order to serve this man.

So it should be with us. We have to be willing to get dirty for the sake of the gospel. We can't hold people at arm's length and just tell them what to do or else. This again is a form of judging them. And, in case you were wondering, it is not helpful. Risk yourself. Risk your safety. Risk your attitude. Risk all that you have to help others, regardless of how dirty you think they are. Regardless of how little you understand about them. Regardless of what you think you understand about what they are going through.

I hope we will all be encouraged and challenged to live a life of compassionate risk-taking service for the true benefit of others.