p. 15 | TO MEMORIZE THE BIBLE by Max Hill

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Mountain View, California · Jan 3, 1905

TO MEMORIZE THE BIBLE.

By Max Hill

BY MAX HILL.

OFTEN at family worship the Scripture reading makes no impression at all upon the minds and hearts of the hearers. Read as a matter of duty, perhaps, and often hurriedly, it is speedily forgotten, with no permanent good resulting. Often, too, a long chapter is chosen and commented upon, tiring the little folks, and wearying the uninterested. But if a shorter selection were read and a good verse memorized each day, the hour for family worship would be a source of strength and help.

Have a supply of cards, say three by six or three by eight inches, and after the reading, pick out the impressive verse and copy it on a card. It might be well to have each one copy the verse that impresses him. There are few chapters in the Bible that do not contain at least one good verse. If there is a difference of opinion as to the best verse, simply allow each one to choose. That which impresses one may not appeal to another at all. And the freedom of choice, you know, is one of man's privileges, granted by God Himself.

Copying the verses will of itself help in fixing them in the mind. If this is done before the morning meal, a pleasant way to get started would be to repeat the verse during breakfast. Then after breakfast have each one place his copy where he will see it during the day, by the work-bench or stand, over the table where you wash your dishes, any place where there will be no effort required to read it many times. Simply read it over and over. Don't make it a burden, but let your mind dwell on the thought in the words of the text, and before you are aware you will have it memorized, and at the evening rehearsal, with a little drill, it can be permanently fixed in the mind. What a treasure these gems will be.

For example, take the book of Galatians. On reading chapter one, the verse that appealed to me was the fourth, and the thought that Christ gave Himself for my sins to deliver me from this present evil world has been a comfort and strength to me ever since I learned it and made it my own. It helped me to make the twentieth verse of chapter two more real: "I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me."

Here His love for me is again assured; and my accepting Christ assures me of something besides safe keeping and blessing, for "if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise." Chapter 3:29. For "when the fulness of time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons." Chapter 4:4, 5.

Then when I have made the promises of the Lord my own, I know that my life will be just what it should be, for "the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law." Chapter 5:22, 23.

"But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world." Chapter 6:14.

"And let us not be weary in well doing; for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not." Chapter 6:9.

The plan is by no means new; it has been successfully used by many. It may be varied in many different ways to suit the circumstances and desires of the family. I know a family in which it is the invariable custom to memorize some good thought from the Bible, or other good sources, at mealtime. The members of that family are never at a loss for a good, appropriate quotation for any occasion. Such a method followed through the year will not fail to store the mind with good things from the Word of God.