This summer, I’ve been working with my older three kids (ages 2, 4, and 6) to memorize Psalm 23 together. Mainly this has consisted of reading it over and over again during lunch time and bribing them with Puffs to get them to repeat after me.

Sometimes it goes well, other times we get results like this:

My kids: “The Lord is my shepherd…he leads me beside the still – just keep swimming, just keep swimming – waters…I will fear no evil scientist…” snippets from Psalm 23 (DIV – Disney International Version).

So, is it worth it to keep going when kids mix Psalm 23 with Finding Nemo or Phineas and Ferb? Or should we just abandon everything until they can take it “seriously”?

I believe we keep going.

Can young children memorize Scripture?

When my oldest was two, about the time he started potty training, every night we would sit in his rocking chair and read the Bible verses that were stenciled on his wall. One of them was 1Timothy 4:12: “Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity.”

After reading it for several nights in a row, I decided to see if anything was sinking in. I read it again with several pauses to see if he could fill in the blanks.

“Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are…”

“Young,” he said.

“Great! But set an example for the…”

“Believers!” he cried.

“Very good!” I continued, “in speech, in life, in love, in faith, and in…”

He looked at me and said with great expression, “and in tee-tee!”

Should young children memorize Scripture?

I learned a few things that night about kids and Scripture. First, their minds are sponges. They are going to soak in everything around them, so the question is not, “Can they memorize?” but “What will they memorize?”

Secondly, there is something organic about memorizing Scripture that happens even as young as two. The Holy Spirit somehow helps bridge the gap between words on a page and real life. For my son, the first way he began applying Scripture to his life was by relating it to potty training. No, it wasn’t exactly accurate, but it was what he knew at the time and it proved that he was already sensitive to the truth/life connection. Now that he’s older, he incorporates what he’s learning – Psalm 23 – into his current interests – Disney entertainment.

Am I concerned or mad that they’re mixing up the words or not learning it perfectly or combining unrelated subjects? Absolutely not.

Because if my child is able to make the connection between the Bible and potty training when he’s two, maybe he’ll make connection between the Bible and his friendships when he’s twelve. And if he’s incorporating God’s Word into his Disney life when he’s six, maybe he’ll incorporate it into his dating life when he’s sixteen.

Accuracy will come. Theology will come. But for now, I want them to know that God’s Word is not something you keep separate from everything else. It’s something that you combine with everything else.

Even tee-tee and TV.

   How have you seen your own children memorize and apply Scripture to their lives?