What I learned through Bible Verse Memorization
I used to think that memorizing bible verses was kind of silly. What, you want to be able to pull out a verse for every situation, whether it actually applies or not? Want to seem holier-than-thou? I thought bible verse memorization was mostly what some Christians did to make themselves feel good and to look holy to the outside world.
John Crist is a Christian comedian who is absolutely hysterical. He pokes fun at some of the things that we do/say on a daily basis as Christians, when we maybe don’t necessarily realize that we sound slightly ridiculous.
And he’s able to joke about these things because he’s one of us, so he’s really making fun of himself too. Watch this video of his below. It’s one of my favorites: Bible verse lady in the mall.
Back to my original point. Until recently, I didn’t see much point in memorizing scripture. One of the guys in our lifegroup challenged us to memorize an entire passage of 17 verses (Colossians 3:1-17)! Of course, Bryson said, “Absolutely!” and we were off.
We took it slow, adding one verse per day.
Memorizing wasn’t that hard, since the passage he picked was one that flowed fairly nicely. One thing I was surprised about though, was how in depth and connected I began to feel toward this group of verses.
I was truly taking them into my soul and having them constantly in my mind. It was actually pretty cool.
Next, I never realized that when you’re trying to remember what words follow the ones you’ve just said, you have to think about the way that the author is navigating towards the end goal of the message, and how he’s connecting the points of multiple statements toward a lasting purpose.
With this passage, you can really follow the flow of the text and begin to TRULY piece together what the main point of the passage is. Living a life that’s different than those around you. Living a life for Christ.
Finally, after becoming so intimately connected with a set of verses, you can’t help but feel compelled to pray and reflect on the message that you’ve learned. Without a call to action, you still feel convicted to make changes in your life and become more Christ-like in your everyday life.
Plus, I think there is something to be said about “writing the words on your heart” so-to-speak. Having them easily accessible to your brain and tongue can make such a difference in your psyche when you’re struggling with something in life, and give you comfort and peace.
After trying this out, I really have changed my mind about bible verse memorization. It can be useful, therapeutic, convicting, as well as change-provoking. But, let’s not be one of those people who John Crist was depicting in his video ;)
What do you think? Have you had any experiences with memorization that have opened your eyes or changed your thoughts?
Have a great day, folks!
Memorizing wasn’t that hard, since the passage he picked was one that flowed fairly nicely. One thing I was surprised about though, was how in depth and connected I began to feel toward this group of verses.
I was truly taking them into my soul and having them constantly in my mind. It was actually pretty cool.
Next, I never realized that when you’re trying to remember what words follow the ones you’ve just said, you have to think about the way that the author is navigating towards the end goal of the message, and how he’s connecting the points of multiple statements toward a lasting purpose.
With this passage, you can really follow the flow of the text and begin to TRULY piece together what the main point of the passage is. Living a life that’s different than those around you. Living a life for Christ.
Finally, after becoming so intimately connected with a set of verses, you can’t help but feel compelled to pray and reflect on the message that you’ve learned. Without a call to action, you still feel convicted to make changes in your life and become more Christ-like in your everyday life.
Plus, I think there is something to be said about “writing the words on your heart” so-to-speak. Having them easily accessible to your brain and tongue can make such a difference in your psyche when you’re struggling with something in life, and give you comfort and peace.
After trying this out, I really have changed my mind about bible verse memorization. It can be useful, therapeutic, convicting, as well as change-provoking. But, let’s not be one of those people who John Crist was depicting in his video ;)
What do you think? Have you had any experiences with memorization that have opened your eyes or changed your thoughts?
Have a great day, folks!
Comments
Post a Comment