When my wife Sheryl and I started dating in 1991, we had both recently gone through a renewal of our faith. Although we had both been raised in the Church, we hadn’t really internalized it or made it a priority. In many ways in the spring of 1991 we were baby Christians. It was a sweet time for both of us. Not only had we met each other, we had truly met the Lord in a profound way.
Together we were enjoying the experience of having a living and vibrant life of faith. Everything was new. We understood, albeit in a very simple way, what it meant to not just know about God, but to know Him. We were learning what it meant to seek Him, listen to Him, and obey Him. Both of us had a genuine hunger and thirst for the word of God. There was a lot we didn’t understand, but we were discovering the voice of God in the Word of God. One of the things we did– and because it was a really good idea, I’m sure it was her idea–was to write out verses of scripture we came across that really spoke to us. They could be verses of encouragement, challenge, or correction. They could be verses of praise from the Psalms or verses of Jesus’ teaching from the Gospels.
We would write these verses on index cards and then we would share them with one another. Since we were in a long-distance relationship (she at Converse College in South Carolina and me at Auburn in Alabama) I was picking up on verses differently than she was and likewise for her. Before long each of us had an index card box of Bible verses– many of which were shared by the other. We each would tape a verse on our mirrors each week and as we were getting ready in our respective dorms in the mornings we’d work on memorizing the verse. I put index cards on the dashboard of my car (No, I didn’t cover the speedometer!) and would read over them at red lights. Over time this method of memorizing of scripture became dear to each of us. I still have many of those cards over 30 years later. The cards in the photo for this post are some of them.
Colossians 3:16 says, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.” I believe scripture memorization is still an immensely valuable exercise. Marinating your brain in the Bible has a very real, and very positive effect. It moves it from theory and concept to practice and application. The wisdom of the Word becomes a part of you when you strive to “let it dwell in you”.
I’d encourage you to do something similar. Maybe you go old-school and write down verses on index cards. Maybe you’re more hi-tech and will put them in your phone. However you do it, the goal is to get it into your mind and heart so that you grow more sensitive to His voice, more responsive to His word, and more obedient to His will. If you don’t know where to start, try a book like Proverbs or maybe an epistle like Philippians. Read it slowly and pause to write down verses that seem to speak to you in a profound way. Find someone to exchange cards with. However you do it, I would just encourage you to do it.
I cherish these cards because I know they were one way God helped me learn about myself and about Him. It was also a great foundation for a young and in-love couple (imperfect as we were by the way) to bring our faith into the center of our new relationship.
The old and now famous collect of Thomas Cranmer calls us to “hear them [the words of the Bible], read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them, that by patience and comfort of thy Holy Word, we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life.” (1662 Book of Common Prayer, 51)