Children memorize many things word for word without realizing it. They know the words of hundreds of songs on the radio, many which are not worth memorizing. Children memorize jingles from commercials on television and radio, hours of exact dialogue from their favorite Disney movies, and the biographies and statistics of players from their favorite sports teams. How do they do it? Repetition! It works.
However, the memorization of Scripture seems to be falling out of fashion. It may be that some people no longer understand the value of committing portions of the Bible to memory.
God tells us in the Bible, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly” (Colossians 3:16). Learning concepts and facts from the Holy Scriptures is certainly valuable, as the Holy Spirit uses the very words to work faith in our hearts. But putting important verses of Scripture to memory is vitally important to remembering what we’ve learned.
The Value of Memorization
Knowing verses of Scripture by heart comes in handy when sharing our faith with others, defending the truths of the Bible from mockers, or refuting false doctrine and humanistic teachings in school or the workplace.
A preliminary step for students starting in first or second grade is to learn the books of the Bible in order. This will prevent much fumbling while locating Bible passages throughout Sunday School and into adult Bible study. It is also helpful to memorize the book, chapter, and verse reference along with the words. Then we can look up the verse, even if we can’t quite remember all of the words.
Many of us know the Lord’s Prayer, the Apostles and Nicene Creeds and parts of liturgy by heart because we repeat them each week in worship. I have often seen family members find comfort at Grandma’s death bed from watching her lips moving to the Lord’s Prayer or the Twenty-third Psalm. Perhaps her body is shutting down, but her faith is alive and well, and her heart is joining in with the words that she’s known since she was a young girl. Many adults and children have—through repetition—learned the Lord’s Prayer, the creeds, and parts of the liturgy by heart. In the same way—through repetition—memorizing Scripture can become a lifelong devotional tool.
Most Sunday School curricula have a recommended Bible memory verse suggested for each lesson or group of lessons. These could be a starting place for your students. A reasonable goal might be for a Sunday School student to learn one hundred Bible verses by the end of the sixth grade. Progress toward this goal would be worth tracking throughout the student’s Sunday School years.
Here are some memorization techniques that have worked for others. Adapt them according to the age of the children you teach.
Be bold! Ask the parents of your students to support their child’s memory work. Here are some other techniques parents can use.
The key to memorizing anything, including the Bible, is repetition! After thirty years of sharing Scriptures with God’s people in hospitals, homes, prisons, and Bible classes, I have memorized about a dozen entire psalms by heart, and hundreds of verses of Holy Scripture. As my eyesight fades with age making it more and more difficult to read, I will have much of the Bible tucked away inside of me, learned “by heart,” to recall whenever I need it.
Perhaps the Apostle Paul said it best to young Timothy:
“But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:14–17).
This article originally appeared in the Summer 2011 issue of Teacher's Interaction.
Teach children core Bible truths with Enduring Faith Bible Curriculum for Sunday School and Midweek.