How Memorization Triggered a Memory

Memory is a funny thing. Different things trigger it, such as the smell of baking cookies, an email reminder from Facebook, or conversations with relatives after a good meal.

My memory was triggered today by a spiritual exercise. Our church has encouraged us to participate in 100 Days with Jesus, a plan to read a chapter of the Gospels every day leading to Easter. It also encourages us to memorize a passage of Scripture about once a week rather than read that day. Today’s memory verse is Mark 8:34-35. It triggered a memory.

While I attended college, I helped start a new church in Mexico, Missouri. One of the men of the church, an older man who had been a Christian for many years, had entered the hospital with failing health. Another man and I visited the hospital to encourage and pray with him. As he lay in the bed, he asked me to read the bible passage that talked about losing your life to save it.

This happened long before I could carry a bible on my phone. In fact, it was long before anyone carried phones in their pockets or cars. I had carried my large, brown leather-bound bible to the hospital. It had an abbreviated concordance in the back which I searched, but I couldn’t find the passage he wanted. He was disappointed, but we talked about the passage as best we could from memory.

That passage is today’s memory verse:

“Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: ‘If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it.’” (Mark 8:34-35 NIV 1984)

Why would a man in failing health, who’d been a faithful Christian, want to hear this passage? It comforted him to know he had lived with the right priorities. Life is not about having everything we want. It’s about living for Jesus.

Remembering this visit to the hospital made me appreciate the electronic version of the Bible I now carry in my pocket. I can search for a word and find it anywhere within the bible in seconds. If I had it in the past, I could have quickly found the passage the sick man wanted and read it. An electronic bible would have made me more effective in offering comfort. But such technology also makes me lazy.

I’m glad our church has encouraged us to memorize Scripture, not simply read it. It helps me hide Jesus’ words in my heart. You may want to practice this discipline a well.