Memorizing Scripture

Memorizing Scripture is not a popular topic. Memorization in general is not a priority of in our culture. I work in the education field and see a focus on the higher order skills such as critical thinking, evaluation, and creativity (to oversimplify) as much as possible and as early as possible in a student's life. On the one hand, well and good. I certainly want my fellow humans to engage in critical thinking and creativity. And, if you need a fact, you can look up something on Google on your smartphone in a few seconds.

However, I don't know what you would think critically about if you don't have some thoughts to begin with, some material knowledge to work on.

So yes, in our 21st century Christian life, we can pull up our Bible app and search for verses by keyword as we need them. I suggest that is very different from memorizing scripture passages. Key verses you memorize not only stay with you; they shape our thinking about our circumstances. When you are in trouble and anxious, the memory of Philippians 4:6-7 may come to mind and encourage you to prayer and trusting God's promises. Also, we have the positive example of Psalm 119:11 to hide or store God's word in our hearts to the end that we would not sin against him.

The older I get, the worse I am at memorizing (not that I was ever that good). But, I'm going to make an effort and encourage you to do the same. Don't start by trying to memorize an entire book of the Bible. Start with some key verses and work at a pace where you do learn but push toward becoming better at it. I recommend this list for some verses to start memorizing.
First 15 Bible Verses to Memorize