Want to Love the Lord More Deeply? Memorize His Word.
Growing up in a small Baptist church in the South during the 1980’s, I was a participant in a church program for children known as “Bible Drill.” I memorized Bible verses and learned the order of the books of the Bible in order to compete with other children from other churches. As an adult, it’s a funny thought to line up children, teach them to memorize Scripture, and then stand them up to compete, but I know the intent was to make Scripture memorization fun. After graduating from the program somewhere around the age of ten, I never picked up the practice of Scripture memorization again until I reached my late thirties and was struggling mightily with an area of sin. Reminded of one of the verses I’d memorized as a child in Bible Drill, I began obeying Psalm 119:11 and storing up God’s Word in my heart so that I wouldn’t sin against him. I began with some psalms before moving on to the book of James, Colossians, 1 Peter. After several years of engaging in this spiritual discipline, I have found that memorizing God’s Word not only aids us in fighting sin but it does so by deepening our love for the Lord.
Meditating on Scripture keeps God’s faithfulness ever before us. The more we remind ourselves of who He is, the more we’ll believe that he is who he says he is. And the more we grow in the knowledge of God, the more we’ll love him for being who he is. Knowledge in and of itself isn’t the endgame here. Knowledge of God is the means to the end of loving and enjoying him.
In Colossians 1, Paul prayed that the Colossian Christians would be filled with the knowledge of God, which would bring about the fruit of wisdom, endurance, joy, and holiness in their lives (see Col. 1:9–11). It is knowledge of God that drives our Christian living. We can’t do the latter without the former. When we think deeply about God as we know him in Scripture, the truths about His character permeate our circumstances, correcting our skewed views of suffering or sin and sustaining us when we’re weary. Paul goes on in Colossians 1 to give the Colossian church some truths about Jesus to chew on. He describes Christ to them in a way that would encourage their perseverance in the faith and deepen their love and gratitude for him. When I memorized this portion of Colossians a few years ago, I could not move past this paragraph for many weeks because of the hold that it had on my heart when I began to slow down and meditate on each individual phrase. Paul writes about Jesus this way:
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. (Col. 1:15–20)
The weeks I spent memorizing this passage have been some of the sweetest in my years of memorizing Scripture. Each day, as I worked on a phrase about Jesus, my mind was filled with the knowledge of my Savior. I mumbled the words during household tasks. On morning walks, I turned the words about Jesus over in my mind, dwelling on the knowledge that he is God, that he is uncreated and yet submitted himself to death and resurrection to guarantee my own future resurrection.
During the season I worked on memorizing this passage, I fought a lot of fear and anxiety. I suffer from a couple of autoimmune diseases, and my health had taken a hard turn a few months prior. I struggled to feel safe in my own body. The Lord didn’t seem keen on bringing about physical healing, and I found myself wondering if he was as good and faithful as I had believed him to be. Colossians 1 became a balm to help me remember what was true about the Lord.
The phrase “in him all things hold together” became a motto for me when I worked through my fears. Neither this world nor my health were spinning off their axis in uncontrolled chaos. Things had not escalated out of the Lord’s sovereign control. No, Jesus holds it all together—the planets in their orbit and me in my own small rotations and revolutions. He holds my life together. My existence is upheld by the strong, capable hands of my Savior. That was and still is so comforting! As a result, the knowledge of his perpetual universe-holding deepened my love for him while I worked on this passage.
In the years since memorizing Colossians 1, I have kept that phrase “in him all things hold together” in my back pocket, returning to it time and again to remember what is true about life and the world and my circumstances. Because he is first in everything, one day I will be with him in my own resurrected body, free from the troubles of this world forever.
Do you see how the simple process of meditation on Colossians 1 led to deepened affection for the Lord? I had looked at my poor health and doubted that God was who he said he was. But each time I returned to Colossians to work on memorization, my uncertainties evaporated before the truths about Christ. I would have been encouraged and built up by simply studying that passage for a day or two, but to dive into it, to saturate my mind with the knowledge of Jesus, to spend weeks there mumbling the words aloud to myself—memorization solidified those comforting truths about Jesus in my heart. I moved on from that passage with deeper love for Christ as well as a better understanding of his love and care for me. Time spent knowing the Father, the Son, and the Spirit in Scripture will lead to deeper affection for God and certainty of his love for us.
If you’re questioning the Lord’s character in light of your circumstances or simply struggling to fan the flames of affection for him, choose a passage like Colossians 1 and begin memorizing it. As you roll the phrases about him around in your heart, your mind, and your mouth, in time you will find that everything he says is true and you will love him more deeply for his faithfulness to you.
This is an adapted excerpt from the author’s book, Memorizing Scripture: The Basics, Blessings, and Benefits of Meditating on God’s Word. Used with permission.
Glenna Marshall is a pastor’s wife and mother of two energetic sons. She is the author of The Promise Is His Presence and Everyday Faithfulness. She writes regularly at GlennaMarshall.com on biblical literacy, suffering, and the faithfulness of God. She is a member of Grace Bible Fellowship in Sikeston, Missouri.
