Scripture Part 9: Should We Memorize Scripture?

The bottom line up front: Yes, there are some things we should memorize. And there are lots of others we should know well even if we don't have it memorized exactly. The reasons why are found in scripture. The first reason is to resist Satan.

James 4:7 Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.

How to resist the devil is found in Matthew 4:1-11. Jesus fasted for forty days and nights, and then was tempted by the devil. The devil tempted Jesus three times. Jesus was God incarnate, God become man. Yet He did not use miraculous power to defeat Satan. He defeated the devil by quoting scripture to refute the temptations. On the second temptation Satan also quoted scripture, misusing it to tempt Christ to sin. Jesus countered with scripture used correctly. Thus Jesus taught us by example how we can defeat Satan ourselves. It doesn't take supernatural power. It takes knowledge of scripture used correctly.

A second reason to know and memorize scripture is this is what makes us Christians.

John 8:31-32 So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, "If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free."
John 14:21 He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me; and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will disclose Myself to him.
1 John 5:3 For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome.

The word Christian means a disciple of Christ. A disciple, mathetes in Greek, is a follower and student. We cannot be His disciples if we don't know what He taught. And we learn that in scripture. As Jesus said, we are truly His disciples if we continue in His word. The benefit to us is we will know the truth which will set us free. Jesus also said those who keep His commandments are the ones who love Him. We can't keep commandments if we don't know them. But we can know them if we continue in scripture, getting it inside us. The benefit to us is we will be loved by God the Father and God the Son, and the Son will reveal Himself to us. It is shocking that so many who claim to be "Christians" aren't even aware Jesus had commandments. But that does explain why most Christians are indistinguishable from secular society.

A third reason to know and memorize scripture is to stay on the narrow path that leads to salvation Jesus spoke of in Matthew 7:13-23.

Psalm 119:11 Your word I have treasured in my heart, That I may not sin against You.
Psalm 119:9 How can a young man keep his way pure? By keeping it according to Your word.
Hebrews 2:1 For this reason we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away from it.
Matthew 7:22-23 Many will say to Me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?' And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.'

To be clear, there is nothing we can do to earn salvation. Works cannot save us. And all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Only faith in Jesus and the grace he made possible can save us. However, if someone really believes that Jesus was crucified for their sins and went through all that He did for them, their actions and behavior should show it. Imagine if a person warned a hurricane was about to hit and everyone should immediately take shelter but then went for a swim in the ocean. It would be obvious to anyone with half a brain that this person doesn't believe the words they are saying. Their actions reveal the truth in their heart. A person who doesn't even try to honor Jesus in their actions and attitudes doesn't love Him, doesn't respect Him, and doesn't really believe in Him or His sacrifice on the cross. Their faith is empty and fake. The fruit their life produces shows they are not a disciple of Jesus, which means they aren't a Christian.

Psalm 1:1-6 How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, Nor stand in the path of sinners, Nor sit in the seat of scoffers! But his delight is in the law of the Lord, And in His law he meditates day and night. He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, Which yields its fruit in its season And its leaf does not wither; And in whatever he does, he prospers. The wicked are not so, But they are like chaff which the wind drives away. Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, Nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous. For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, But the way of the wicked will perish.

It is one thing to stand with Jesus and fail. It is the opposite to stand with sinners from the beginning and not even try to stand with Jesus. The sin may be the same, but the heart of the one who stands with sinners belongs to sin and not Jesus. God is not mocked. Those that are frauds and fakes do not fool God. Those who seek their own way may seem to prosper now. But they will be blown away like the chaff blows away during the harvest of grain. Those who seek righteousness are the ones who will truly prosper. Their prosperity may not be until after Judgement Day. But no matter how great a self-centered person appears to prosper in this life, it will end. Whereas a righteous person will prosper more in one minute of life after Judgement Day than an unrighteous person does in their whole life on earth. And the righteous person will have it for all eternity while the unrighteous person will find out everything they had has disappeared and wasn't worth it. A righteous person seeks God's guidance which is found in scripture.

Psalm 119:105 Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.
Proverbs 3:5-6 Trust in the LORD with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.
Colossians 3:16 Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.
Romans 10:17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.
Romans 12:2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.

Scripture is our guide and light. But it cannot be our guide if we don't know it. It must be within us to do any good. We cannot renew our minds or lean on the Lord's understanding without knowing His word. Our faith comes from hearing Jesus. And that hearing is what He said in scripture. Scripture is the guidance of the Holy Spirit, and the way we can discern between our own sinful desires and the prompting of the Holy Spirit.

Now that we have established that we need to have God's word in us, the question is what needs to be known and what needs to be memorized. As a flyer in the Air Force you are expected to know a lot of information. This includes how the aircraft's systems function like engines, hydraulics, pneumatics, landing gear, flight controls, control surfaces, and so on. And you have to know flight regulations, both Air Force and civilian, how to fuel plan, navigate, deal with Air Traffic Control, and much more. Almost everything you don't need to know exactly, you only need to know well enough to operate the aircraft safely. When the exact details need to be known it's acceptable to look them up as needed. You still have to know the gist of the information in order to know that it is available to look up and where to look for it. Then there are some things that are so important you must have it memorized perfectly. These are called Bold Face steps because these are printed in bold face at the beginning of certain Emergency Checklists. These are the steps you must be able to recite and write down exactly as they appear in the Technical Order because the situation requires these steps be performed perfectly from memory. An example is the Engine Fire checklist. While it varies a little between different aircraft, the bold face involves shutting down the engine, cutting off the flow of fuel, hydraulic fluid and such, and activating the fire extinguisher. After the bold face steps are done, then you get out the checklist and follow the remaining steps.

Living as a Christian is like that. We need to know scripture in order to really live as a Christian. Listening to someone tell us what they think from the front of a church once or twice a week will not do it for us. We need to get into scripture ourselves. Then we will know to grab our Bible and refer to exactly what it says when things happen in our lives. But there are some things that we need to have memorized perfectly because the need for them will come up without warning and without the time or opportunity to find it in our Bibles. What those verses are depends on the issues in an individual's life. However, here is one every single Christian on Earth should memorize.

1 Corinthians 10:13 No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.

Every Christian deals with temptation. Satan and his demons use the same strategies with everyone because they almost always work on us. They tell us that we are the only one dealing with that temptation. We are alone in our struggle. And we cannot resist the temptation. It's all lies from the father of lies. Scripture tells us the truth is that every temptation is something all of us deal with, and we can resist because God has provided a way of escape. Like Jesus did in Matthew 4:1-11, we can deal with temptation by quoting this verse. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Give in and he will keep coming back with the same temptation and will add to it. I may be quoting this verse to Satan's minion that is trying to tempt me. But when I quote it I am also reminding myself of God's promise and that I can overcome the temptation. I am sending the evil ones packing while boosting my own resistance and faith every time I quote it. This is how we overcome the enemy like Jesus showed us to do.

When we stand before the bema seat our small group leader, pastor, and the goober we like to watch on YouTube won't be standing next to us. We will standing on our own before Jesus. It doesn't matter if those others were wrong or not. It matters if we were wrong. If we don't want to be among those turned away from heaven like those in Matthew 7:22-23 we need to take responsibility for our own souls. It's our own responsibility and no one else's. The key is to get into the word and get the word into us.