Estimated reading time: 3 minutes
I find it difficult to memorize and recite the Scriptures word for word. In my denomination, from the age of five, we were made to read and recite Scriptural verses for Bible competitions, quizzes, and other activities. I attempted it many times, but I ended up going blank or skipping one word or the other.
Even today, after reading the Bible over and over, I can only recite a handful of them. I remember one time someone asked me to recite just one verse from each book of the Scriptures. Easy, right? Nope, I still couldn’t, and I felt that I was somehow lacking or that my relationship with God just wasn’t solid or intimate enough.
Wrong! Actually, you don’t need to have all the scriptures in your head to have a good relationship with God. In fact, organizers of these Bible quizzes should stop making children who can’t recite Scriptures offhand feel like they’re lacking something or that they aren’t intelligent enough.
A lot of children memorized and recited scriptures confidently in my youth, but when you look at their lives today, you wonder if they blew out everything they memorized at that young age. It’s not to brag; it’s just evidence that the Scriptures shouldn’t be learned in the head alone but should be imprinted in the heart.
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Just because one can’t recite certain scriptural verses doesn’t mean that the person’s walk with God is faulty. How can I do without reciting scriptures or remembering the book or chapter where they are? I just need to hear the word of the Holy Spirit. Just a single word, or a phrase, and I’m searching for it in the Scriptures. I know I’ve seen it before, read it, and I know it’s somewhere there. So, searching makes it easier when you have received the word.
I’m not saying memorizing the Scriptures should be scrapped; it’s just that memorization should never be the priority. Don’t teach your children to be like the Pharisees and Sadducees who knew the scriptures in their heads yet were unable to put them into practice. Christ warned us not to be like them.
Teach them to know God, and communicate with Him, and don’t make them so familiar with it that they think it’s unnecessary to read the scriptures again because they’ve memorized them already. There’s always a new revelation that comes from reading and rereading.
By Kehinde Makinde
Kehinde is a transformative content writer and editor dedicated to spreading positivity & inspiration through thought-provoking content.
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