“I just can’t memorize!”
How many times can you remember hearing yourself or someone crying these words in frustration? Memorization is tough, and people go to all sorts of lengths to avoid it.
Besides, we have technology telling us what we need to know. We’ve evolved past memorization—why do we need to remember anything when a machine will do it for us?
Memorization is criticized as being archaic, old fashioned and focused on remembering at the expense of understanding. In fact, Albert Einstein famously said he never memorized anything he could look up in under two minutes. And we can all attest to cramming sessions to ensure a “C” on some history or biology exam—only to promptly forget everything immediately after the test.
Our sob story changes when the subject matter is more interesting. As much as we complain about memorization, if something’s important enough to us, we are capable of remembering vast amounts of information. Song lyrics, jokes, poems movie quotes and sentimental dates are things we memorize without a quibble or a second thought.
The discipline of memorization has a unique benefit: It can develop into a powerful mental instrument, which allows a person to think independently. Memorization unlocks intellectual freedom
Scripture memory unlocks powerful and liberating truth in our lives.
Why is memorizing God’s Word important? Darren Malin talks about the benefits of Scripture memory in The Key to Unlocking God’s Truth, Sept. 2009’s LifeTrac article in Insights Canada. He breaks the benefits down into three key areas:
- Head
- Heart
- Hands
We are all capable of remembering information, however, our ability to memorize Scripture depends on its importance to us.
By Robyn Roste
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