Do not let this book of the law depart from your mouth. Meditate on it day and night, so that you will be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. - Joshua 1:8
Research varies regarding the average amount of words spoken by people per day. Some give figures as low as 6,000, and others as high as 16,000. Let's meet somewhere in the middle and say the average person speaks about 10,000 words a day.
Jesus said, "But I tell you that everyone will have to give account on the day of judgment for every empty word they have spoken" (Matt 12:36)
We must ask ourselves, how many of these thousands of words coming out of our mouths every day are empty?
How different would our lives look if we eliminated vain words and spoke only words of life and truth?
And also, what can we do to reduce the amount of our vain words we speak?
A very simple way is scripture memorization.
Among many others, there are two great benefits to memorizing scripture that I will analyze briefly here.
It gets us in the habit of speaking truth.
When we want to memorize something, we usually need to repeat it out loud to ourselves many times. Hearing ourselves speak the Word of God is a powerful exercise. The more we do this, the more natural it will feel for us to speak true and meaningful words and the more unnatural it will feel to speak false and empty words.
It rewires our brains
Imagine a snowy hill with children at the top ready to sled down it. At first the slope is blank slate of snow. But after the first sled goes down, there is a groove created. The more sleds that go down that same path, the deeper and more entrenched that groove becomes. Now all it takes is a sled to enter the beginning of the groove, and they will naturally be taken down the same path. This is essentially how our brains work - for better and for worse.
Every time we do something or think something, certain neurons fire in our brains. When we think or do the same thing over and over, these neurons fire repeatedly. Much of our activity is on auto pilot based upon the habit structures we've created in our brains.
By memorizing scripture, we are rewiring our brains to think godly thoughts. Even if our mind is not focused on the Bible or on God, a certain situation will trigger a certain response, and if we have the pattern of the Word of God embedded in our minds, we will be much more likely to react positively to the situation.
There are many more benefits to memorizing scripture, but these two should be enough to inspire anyone hungry for a deeper spiritual life. If you are interested in beginning or rekindling your journey of Bible memorization, feel free to begin with the verse from Joshua at the top, from Matthew in the body, or Psalms at the bottom of the page.
I have hidden your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you - Psalm 119:11
I love you Lord my strength from a psalm