Which verses to memorise?

I am a big fan of memorising scripture. Having just encouraged Amy to get into it, I am posting (most of/slightly edited) the comment I wrote on her blog on how I choose which verses I will prioritise memorising.

I've found it a lot easier to memorise verses that I have picked myself, rather than memorising someone else's list. I usually have two criteria:

1. Would it help my faith to grow if I memorised this? An example passage could be Luke 5:24-25, or Ephesians 2:4-5,8-10.
and
2. Would it help me to love God and my neighbour better if I knew this off by heart? John 1:1-4 and Philippians 2:14-16a are passages we have memorised that fit this criteria.

Of course, the entire Bible is God's provision to us to help us in these very things. But when I read a verse in my personal Bible study that jumps out at me as fitting one or both of these criteria, I add it to my "to memorise" list.

The other criteria which I use when selecting verses for the kids' to memorise, which I will inevitably memorise along with them, is:

3. Will knowing this Bible verse help them to remember and understand the Bible narrative better? (In other words, does it briefly describe a critical event or situation in the gospel narrative?) Gen 12:1-3 and Mark 3:13-19 are good examples of passages that fit this criteria.
and
4. Will knowing this Bible verse teach and remind us of the importance of the Bible as the authority for faith? Psalm 119:105, which we memorised last week, is a great example here, as are pretty much all the verses in Ps 119! Also Ps 1, Prov 3:5-6, etc.

One further criteria to do with verses from the synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke). I have found that where an event is recorded in more than one of the synoptic gospels, I usually prefer to memorise the verses from Luke's gospel. It isn't that I think Luke's gospel is somehow more authoritative than Matthew or Mark. It's just that (in the NIV, at least), his verses seem to be the clearest in their description of the events. Compare these verses from the baptism of Jesus, for example: Matthew 3:16-17 (try explaining "lighting on him" to a pre-schooler, especially one who has just learnt John 1:1-4 "...In [Jesus Christ] was life, and that life was the light of men" and will also be learning Psalm 119:105 "Your word is ... a light for my path"), Mark 1:9-11 (try telling your kindergarten-age son what "heaven being torn open" might look like - because you know he will definitely ask - and not getting side-tracked completely from the task of memorisation!) and Luke 2:21-22 (simple, clear, concise yet complete, without confusing terms or descriptions).

The critical thing I have found is to make sure you have a plan for how you will practise all those verses you have memorised in the past. As well as the good examples from the Fighter Verses links here, and the Simply Charlotte Mason Scripture Memory System, I would also recommend highlighting (not just underlining) the verses you memorise in your Bible as soon as you feel they are successfully memorised. It will not only encourage you as you see more and more of your Bible gradually being highlighted! You will also find that as you come across these highlighted verses when reading nearby passages or just looking for another page, your eye will be drawn to them and you will quickly re-read them, thus refreshing your memory of these verses, perhaps memorised long ago, each time you do.