Here’s why.

I am pleased to announce that 47 Primes is releasing its first application for a mobile platform. TruthPacker is an application for the iPhone and iPod Touch that helps you memorize Bible passages. Memorizing scripture has been an important discipline of mine for several years. Yet I often have to remind myself of the importance of this practice. The Bible gives several reasons why all Christians should engage is a consistent, systematic practice of memorizing scripture.

For purity of life

Scripture memory puts the word in your head so that the Holy Spirit can put it into your heart (Psalm 119:9-11). The psalmist found the key to a morally pure life in hiding God’s word in his heart (see also Proverbs 6:20-24).

In Matthew 15:18-20, Jesus explains to the disciples that “the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these make a man ‘unclean.’ For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. These are what make a man ‘unclean’”. If we, through the memorization of scripture, put into our hearts the words of God, He will use them to cleanse our lives.

For spiritual prosperity

If reading God’s word is like tasting food, then meditating on God’s word is like chewing and digesting. Spiritual prosperity finds its way in our lives through meditating on God’s word (Psalm 1:1-3, Joshua 1:8) and scripture memory puts the food in our mouths. David’s desire was that the words of his mouth and the meditation of his heart be pleasing to God (Psalm 19:14). With scripture memory, we can meditate on God’s words anytime so that we may know and obey God’s will.

For the renewing of your mind

Scripture memory aligns our thoughts with God’s. Consider the negative thought patterns sewn into our minds daily from within and without. How much time do we spend thinking on these things? In Philippians 4:8, God tells us that we should spend our time thinking about things that are true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, or praiseworthy. Which of those adjectives do not describe the word of God? Ephesians 4:23 and Romans 12:2 command us to renew our minds. Our minds are not garbage disposals, rather garbage collectors. Most of the information we don’t want seems to stay in our heads for later use. What a better way to combat mind depravity than with God’s word?

For victory in battle

If the sword of the spirit is the word of God (Ephesians 6:17), then scripture memory puts the sword in your hand. Lorne Sanny, former president of The Navigators ministry, describes the word of God not just as a sword, but as an armory containing many swords. When we go into battle, we choose the weapons we feel will most swiftly and concisely bring us victory. However, we do not always know when Satan, the world, or our flesh will pull a Goliath. Therefore, we must be armed at all times with the right weapon. If we are in the midst of an important decision or strong temptation or we desire counsel or encouragement, and as Don Whitney so vividly states in Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life, “the Holy Spirit rushes to [our] mental arsenal, flings open the door, but all He finds is a John 3:16, a Genesis 1:1, and a Great Commission. Those are great swords, but they’re not made for every battle.”

We see a demonstration of this use of scripture in Matthew 4, where Jesus responds to each tempation from the devil with the words “it is written” followed by the appropriate scriptural response. Recalling scripture from memory puts the sword in our hand to fight the enemy’s attacks on any occasion.

For godly counsel

The scripture says in 2 Timothy 4:2, “Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage — with great patience and careful instruction.” Elsewhere, in Colossians 3:16, we are told to “let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.” Furthermore, Psalm 119:24 says that the scriptures are our counselors.

Read carefully this proverb:

Pay attention and listen to the sayings of the wise; apply your heart to what I teach, for it is pleasing when you keep them in your heart and have all of them ready on your lips. So that your trust may be in the LORD, I teach you today, even you. Have I not written thirty sayings for you, sayings of counsel and knowledge, teaching you true and reliable words, so that you can give sound answers to him who sent you?

(Proverbs 22:17-21, emphasis added)

When we memorize scripture, we are making our minds available to the Holy Spirit in order for Him to give us a timely word of encouragement or admonishment for ourselves and for others. As we are instructed to keep wise sayings (proverbs) in our hearts and have them ready to speak to others, our counsel must be from God’s word rather than from opinions and anecdotes.

For proclaiming the Gospel

By memorizing passages of scripture that deal with salvation, such as Romans 6:23, we can more effectively communicate God’s plan of salvation in both expected and unexpected situations.

As a response of love to God’s word

The scripture says in Jeremiah 15:16, “When your words came, I ate them; they were my joy and my heart’s delight, for I bear your name, O LORD God Almighty.” We tend to take heart that which we deem important, beneficial, and enjoyable. Let us reflect the attitude toward God’s word exhibited by the prophet Jeremiah.

The spiritual benefits of scripture memory are boundless. In addition to the aforementioned reasons, we should note assurance, wisdom, direction, perseverance, prayer, and worship. I hope that if you are a Christian, you will began or continue to work toward memorizing God’s word with the aim of obeying it.

In Ruby, the Singleton class (or Eigenclass) is a hidden class where instance-specific behavior is stored. The Metaclass is the Singleton class of a Class object.

The following example illustrates this point: