In our weekly MOMs class at my church, I’ve been teaching a study I wrote on Proverbs and how to apply its principles to our child-rearing. As I’ve been teaching it, I’ve felt led to get more disciplined about leading Drew (and Alyssa as she gets older) to memorize Scripture.
Memorizing Scripture is so important for a number of reasons, and I feel that it is even more critical for children to memorize Scripture. It will guide them (Psalm 119:105), it will penetrate to places in their heart that I cannot (Hebrews 4:12), and it accomplishes what God desires (Isaiah 55:11). Simply put, when I’m no longer the primary influence in my children’s lives, I want to leave them with something that will accomplish more than I ever could.
I also want to make it fun, not a chore, so for Drew I’ve chosen to reward him with a “square” (this is a system we use to make him earn computer or video game time; each square represents 15 minutes) when he memorizes the weekly verse. I’m sure there are those that think Scripture memory is a reward in itself and shouldn’t be rewarded, but for Drew, I see it as a gateway motivator. I also watch his heart. Right now, he is enjoying simply learning Scripture; the “square” is simply icing on the cake. But if it became the primary motivator and he wasn’t taking what he learned to heart, I would probably reevaluate.
I started this last week, but I decided to share this with you for two reasons:
1. It will help me stay accountable to provide a verse each week for my children.
2. If you have children, you can choose to use the resources I’ve found and I’ll post them.
I’ll be posting our first week’s verse shortly.