Is there value in having my kids memorize verses from the Bible?

Anyone who ever attended a Bible class or Sunday School class as a child remembers memorizing Bible verses and receiving candy or some other sort of prize for doing so. Our kids are doing the same, and we as parents are proud of our children when we hear them recite their verses, and we will often help them memorize them word for word. But what's the point of memorizing Bible verses?

Here's a picture that will help our children understand why and how it's beneficial for them to memorize Scripture. Say your son gets hired by an NBA team to play basketball. After the contract is signed, the coach hands him a thick book, the strategy and play manuel, and tells him to go over it thoroughly so that he can play in next week's game.

The first thing he'll do is read it through from cover to cover to get an idea of the team's overall approach and strategy. But then he'll need to go back over certain parts and study them. He'll read and reread those parts and think about them so that he'll know and understand what to do on the court. But he'll also memorize the different plays so that he'll know exactly what to do in each situation. In brief, he'll read for general understanding, study the important parts, and memorize key plays so that he'll know what to do in specific situations.

That's how we should treat the Bible, as the strategy and play manual for our lives. We should read it for a general understanding of life, study specific parts and topics so that we know how to function in life, and memorize key portions so that when life's circumstances put us on the spot we'll know what to do.

Receiving candy and prizes for memorizing Bible verses can be moticating, but if those rewards are the only reason for learning verses, we might as well have our kids memorize Shakespeare. Psalm 119:11 says that the Bible is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path. The instructions in the Bible give us direction and help us make decisions. We should help our children memorize key verses, and make sure that they understand them, so that when particular situations arise they'll know how to respond.

There's no brownie point system in heaven that rewards our children for the number of Bible verses they can recite perfectly. It's far more important that our children memorize the meaning, intent, and purpose of a Bible verse than it is for them to memorize its exact wording.

The best verses to memorize with your children are the ones that you looked up together when you were trying to learn and understand one of life's principles. If you children are learning memory verses somewhere else and bringing them home, spend a little time with them to make sure that they understand what each verse means and how they can apply it. You'll find that their ability to memorize the actual words will increase drastically with practice. If you want to find key verses for your children to memorize, use one of the Bible reference tools found in the back of most Bibles, such as a topical study guide or a concordance.