In the mom’s Bible study the other day, I wrote on the board the three most spiritually shaping practices I’ve been engaged in lately:
1. Reading through the Bible in a year (year over year)
2. Prayer walking
3. Sabbathing
And I neglected to add a 4th, but I should have: Scripture memory. When I was homeschooling a 6th grader, a 3rd grader, a 2nd grader, AND had a newborn, a 2 year old, and a 3 year old (what was I thinking???!!), we began learning Matthew 5 around the homeschool table. Everyday. Much like we do in morning meetings here at CCS.
If you have an upstairs child here at CCS, he or she knows 18 verses of Psalm 139 AND MANY other whole Psalms and passages of scripture.
If you have an elementary student, they are learning Matthew 5 and have memorized the first 14 verses thus far. We will do Matthew 5, 6, and 7 (yes, that’s chapters 5, 6, and 7) throughout elementary school. This is a long process, and I take the long view of scripture memory. It is soul-shaping. It is God-glorifying. It is profitable for our lives!
My scripture memory journey began with my grandmother: she would have me memorize passages of scripture when I spent the night with her in Houston which was frequently! And it continued at church, in Bible Bowl, youth group, etc.
And I learned firsthand the VALUE of all that memory when I went to jail—a story for a different time!—because the saying, “what a heart knows by heart is what a heart knows” suddenly became VERY real alone in an interrogation room. I was pulling up every Bible verse I’d EVER LEARNED (this was in 2011, not last week, by the way!)(Whole jail story on Monday, February 3rd at Moms Coffee and Conversation!)
Yes, there are pop up verses that I think all Christians should know like John 3:16 and Romans 3:23 and a host of others. But the value of memorizing long passages of scripture is that it gives us a firmer grasp of the Bible’s one big story: NOT that it’s a rule book (although there are rules in there which, if followed, in general make life better!)…but it is primarily a love story—about a people needing rescuing, and God sending his Son to rescue us. This is the MAIN point of the ENTIRE Bible. And when we memorize long passages, we understand the context better and have more room for application. John Piper also says that memorizing scripture gives us fodder for meditation (which ABSOLUTELY happened in that interrogation room) and God’s words to comfort our friends in need.
I learned a long time ago, that when I feel like there’s something I should get into the habit of doing, I might have to pray for the want to to want to. And I have yet to experience deaf ears from God.
For example:
Lord, reading the Bible seems dry in this season of life for me. I want to love your Word. Please give me the want to to want to. And He DOES.
Lord, memorizing scripture is for younger brains. Please give me the want to to want to. And he DOES.
If this is something you’d like to explore, join our “memorizing moms” texting thread that I send a video on each school day so we can practice it together. We’re memorizing Matt. 5:1-2 currently as a group and will continue from there. Or grab a friend and memorize something together, sending videos to each other right after carpool.
A friend of mine who also happens to have a grandchild at CCS approached me after church one Sunday and said that she’d like to memorize a passage! Her grandchild has helped her memorize 12 verses of Psalm 139 in the last 8 weeks. “And a little child shall lead them…” I love the inter-generational nature of a memorizing church and school. See below, our current scripture memory plan for CCS. We'd love for you to memorize along with us!
See you Monday for the jail story if it fits in your life!
Scripture Memory Plan for CCS:
2s: 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 (“The Love Chapter”), 10 catechism questions
3s: 1 Corinthians 13:4-8, Days of Creation, 21 catechism questions, Psalm139:1-18 , Disciples, Books of OT/NT,
Psalm100, Closing prayer
4s & TK: 1 Corinthians 13:4-8, Days of Creation, 21 catechism questions, Psalm139:1-18, Disciples, Books of OT/NT,
Psalm100, Closing prayer , 10 Commandments, Psalm23, The Lord’s Prayer, Various set prayers
K-3: 1 Corinthians 13:4-8, Days of Creation , Matthew 5, Psalm139:1-18, Disciples, 10 Commandments,
Psalm 100, Closing prayer, 14 Hymns, Psalm23, The Lord’s Prayer, Nicene Creed,
33 catechism questions, Books of OT/NT, Various set prayers
