How important is the Word of God to us? How much value do we place in the memorization of Scripture? In this video, David Platt holds Christians accountable for the frequent apathy demonstrated in the memorization of God’s Word. Platt acknowledges that Christians often do not willingly memorize Scripture out of their own desires. Yet, he poses a concept of hypothetical reward to Christians: If we were offered money for the memorization of Scripture, would it then motivate us to keep the Word hidden in our hearts? Does money truly have a bigger place in our hearts than the Word of God?
- Meditation
- Memorization
Watch full message of MAPS: A Guide for Intimacy with God through the Word
So I think memorization is one of the most practical ways of meditation, because when you’re memorizing something, and we did this when we walked through 1 John 1, you’re just repeating itself. It’s repeating it over and over. It’s hiding. It’s getting hidden in your mind and in your heart. And you say, “Well, I just don’t memorize well.”
And I know people have different abilities to memorize, but I’d put it this way, regardless of ability to memorize, what if I told you that over the next 24 hours between this time right now and this time tomorrow, I would give you a thousand dollars for every verse you could memorize?
Valuing God’s Word
I’m guessing you can learn, just to memorize a few, right? Like, “Jesus wept.” John 11:35, boom. All right, just find the smallest one you start to memorize pretty quick. So I guess that’s the question. What do we think is more valuable money or God’s word?
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
