Have you ever attempted to memorize a Bible verse? What about an entire chapter or book of the Bible? I once set out to memorize the book of Ephesians. I made it to chapter 4, but never finished.
Recently, as I was reading John Piper’s When I Don’t Desire God, I was encouraged to begin memorizing significant portions of Scripture again. Piper writes,
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.
Piper recommends a little booklet on Scripture memorization by Andy Davis entitled An Approach to the Extended Memorization of Scripture (free PDF). I read through the booklet last night and found its practical advice very helpful.
If you’re ready to start memorizing books of the Bible check out the booklet. If you’d rather start off with individual verses you may want to look at the Topical Memory System from NavPress or Desiring God’s Bible memory products.
