READ: PSALMS 1:2; 119:103-105; 2 TIMOTHY 3:14-17

Have you ever canned food? Throughout much of history, people have canned and preserved food—often in glass jars. This has been an important way for people to get nutrition, even in less-than-ideal times like winter or natural disasters.

In a way, memorizing Scripture is like “canning” truth from God’s Word to store in our hearts so that we always have it with us. Memorizing words from the Bible is a spiritual practice that Christians have done for centuries. It provides us with the opportunity to feast on God’s Word, even when we don’t have easy or convenient access to a Bible, or when we just want to meditate on Scripture without using a screen.

The reason the Bible is so important to us as Christians is because every single verse is “God-breathed,” and it’s a gift from God to us (2 Timothy 3:16). The Bible tells us all about Jesus: He is our Savior, God, and King—and He is also our Shepherd, Advocate, and Friend. When we learn Bible passages, these can provide help, encouragement, wisdom, and comfort when we need it most. On top of that, the very process of trying to memorize a passage can help us chew on it, giving us a chance to grow in our understanding of the good news about Jesus.

Today, consider what Bible verse or passage you might like to try to memorize. Don’t feel like you have to set a goal of memorizing a long passage. That can get overwhelming! Instead, start with a single verse or a short passage that reminds you of Jesus’s love for you.

Want to know a simple way to commit a verse or passage to memory? Read or listen to it every day for a month. Even if you don’t have it perfectly memorized by the end of the month, you will have spent around thirty days dwelling on those words from the Bible and considering how they declare the good news of Jesus. And that “canning” time is always time well-spent. • A. W. Smith

Want other ideas for how to memorize Scripture? Consider trying one of these:

• On a whiteboard, write out the Bible verse or passage you want to learn. Then read it aloud. Then erase one word and read the passage again. Repeat this process until no words are left.

• Think of a song you like to sing. See if you can put the verse or passage to that music, and then practice your verse or passage by singing it at a set time each day.

• Break the verse or passage into phrases, then create motions to go along with each phrase to help you remember the words.

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness. 2 Timothy 3:16 (NIV)