Memory Work: Not Just for Kindergarten by Josh Hardin

Most of us memorized the 23rd Psalm by the time we turned five. We could quote the books of the Old Testament and the New Testament, the fruit of the Spirit, and a number of other verses, including John 3:16 and John 11:35 (Jesus wept). After we reached 7th grade, however, we outgrew all that memory work, and our teachers stopped giving it to us.

There's no reason to have stopped it. In fact, there is a good reason to continue. Bible study and Bible discussion classes are necessities for the Christian, but a Bible student also needs to know where to find relevant passages in the Bible. Most of us know what is in the Bible and what God says, but we have trouble finding just the spot we want. So we say things in a Bible discussion like, “We can’t just give our money to God and think that’s enough. The Bible says, I think in James, we should always be doing good.” Which is a fine statement, but doesn’t do us much good if we cannot point to the exact passage for a study of the context. For all anyone else knows, we might have quoted Shakespeare (which happens on occasion).

The only way to remedy this is to memorize important Scriptures and ideas in the Bible and where they are found. It seems like a daunting task, but it really isn’t if we tackle it one week at a time, rather than all at once. Teachers can have one piece of memory work each class, whether it is a scripture, a list like the Judges, or other important Bible facts. If the students come back each week with their memory work complete, they get a prize at the end of the quarter. For younger kids, especially if you teach a class where your child is a student, you might host a cookout or take the students for ice cream. This works with adults, too. You might bring donuts to class each week for those who complete the work. (You might also ask people to help out with the expense, or even ask the Elders.)

Coming up with the memory work is not hard. You can find your own, such as those listed in the box above, or you can use the Scriptures in each week’s lesson. Just flip through the lesson and find a relevant Scripture. For instance, in Lambert’s The Living Way series book on Miracles and Parables of Jesus, a verse from Isaiah about the providence of God, found at the end of lesson one on page 10, can be used for the memory verse. If you use a Scripture from each week’s lesson, the students will gradually build up their knowledge of relevant passages for Bible topics from Baptism to the return of Christ.