What have you memorized?
You recall the lines you had for the play like Fiddler on the Roof or Our Town. You stammer to remember the lines of a poem you recited in grade school. Lines from a movie, random trivia, and statistical records naturally come to your mind.
What we commit to memorizing holds influence in our lives. These words have connections to the deepest parts of us no matter how menial or significant we consider them. They come back to us attached to emotions: laughter, contentment, achievement, anxiety, etc.
People share with me their desire to read and understand Scripture. It takes time to gain the rhythm of the context of a passage — understanding why the author wrote it and who read the passage first. Something happens when Scripture becomes a part of us. We meditate on it. Come back to it. Say it out loud. Then repeat it.
I find myself repeating Psalm 23 to my daughter, Hayley. I memorized that chapter as a Kindergartner at church. Those words have stuck with me in this season. At first, I thought Hayley needs to hear these words of David at this young age and then I found I needed them for myself.
I regret memorizing Scripture as a child for badges and high grades. Attending church and a Christian school offered ample opportunity to have Scripture become a part of me. The passages that I rushed through included the whole book of 1 John; Romans 6 & 12; Philippians 2:5-11; Proverbs 1. I can recall bits and pieces, but I wonder what would have happened if these verses got lodged deeper within my heart earlier.
The discipline of memorizing Scripture brings us back to the Gospel, the Good News of Jesus. The words of Scripture begin to shape how we see Jesus active in our lives. It moves us from an academic understanding of Jesus to a relational experience with Him.
Memorizing Scripture requires work. Often, our ambitions get the best of us. We memorize for the assignment and achievement. For Scripture to become an everyday part of our lives, it has become a part of us. The Word of God has the power to transform our hearts and motivations. Then it moves from us in everyday conversation. Not merely reciting to prove we know the Bible, but guiding our frame of reference with each other by seeing Jesus.
What would happen if you committed one verse to memory today? How might it affect the way you see Jesus in the course of your day? Who would you share the verse with?
Photo by rawpixel