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.