Memorising passages

A few of my Christian friends have memorised verses of Scripture, but very few of those I have talked with have worked on passages of Scripture, rather than isolated verses.

It seems to me that the isolated verses do not often mean exactly what we have been told they mean: sometimes they may properly be used to support something more than their original intent, but it could be useful to firstly let them say what they originally said!

For example, as a child I was told that Revelation 3:20, which I learnt in the King James Version as

Behold I stand at the door and knock:
if anyone hears my voice and opens the door,
I will come in to him, and sup with him and he with me.

means that we must ask Jesus into our hearts. In fact that is the way a person becomes a Christian. Because of this, this was the method I used when my mother shared the gospel with me on Christmas Day, 1957.

We were also told that Acts 16:30-31

What must I do to be saved?
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.

tells us that to become a Christian all that is required is a simple belief in Christ.

But the Revelation passage is of course speaking about the Laodicean Christians being urged to invite Christ back into their midst, because at the moment, he's on the outside. And Paul seems to require more than a simple belief from the Philippian gaoler, because he then baptises him and his whole family, who had all come to believe in God.

Maybe some of our misapplications might be avoided if we were to learn passages, rather than a verse here and there. During my attempt to memorise Hebrews, I'm discovering that some verses have quite a different flavour in their original surroundings.

One example of this is Hebrews 4:12, which is part of a discussion about Christians entering into the rest promised to Israel in Joshua and other places in the Old Testament:

There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; 10 for those who enter God's rest also rest from their own work, just as God did from his. 11 Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will perish by following their example of disobedience.

12 For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. 13 Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.

14 Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. 16 Let us then approach God's throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.[TNIV]

It is both fearsome and encouraging, when we read the rest of the passage.

What are you currently memorising? Hebrews may seem overwhelming, but a short psalm such as Psalm 23 or Psalm 1, or a passage such as Romans 8:28-39 is quite approachable to begin with, I think.