People today are living longer than at any time in modern history. That is great, but one of the saddest thing to see is watching someone outlive their memories. We call it dementia. Our memories make us who we are. Today’s article is about memories. I titled it:
Memories
While preparing for a move, I picked up a box of old things from years gone by. It was filled with old papers, a few photos, and old books I had not seen for years. Among those old books was a little, brown leather New Testament. Thirty years earlier that New Testament had been my favorite “preaching Bible.” I read a few notes that I had written on its pages and it brought a smile to my heart. Old memories can be refreshing to the soul.
God also values memories. He put a rainbow in the sky so that we would remember (Gen 9:16). As the Israelites crossed the Jordan, God commanded a monument of memorial stones to be built so Israel would remember how He had delivered them from slavery (Joshua 4:6). As one of His last acts on earth, Jesus set up a memorial meal for Christians. (Matthew 26, 1 Cor 11:24) He said we should eat this meal “In memory of Me.”
God calls us to remember that He is God and what he has done for us. The memorial stones in Joshua do not just tell those people there was a God who delivered, but also served to remind each new generation that God still delivers. On the Lord’s Day as the Memorial meal is passed, we do not see grape juice or the unleavened bread, but the sacrifice that Jesus made on the cross. We see the love of God who gave His Son to the nails so that we might have eternal life.
I love the story of Robert E. Lee who shortly after the Civil War, was visiting a Kentucky lady. She took him to the remains of a grand old tree at the front of her formerly great mansion. The North and the South had fought a bitter battle in her yard, and the limbs and the trunk of that old tree had been destroyed by Northern artillery fire. She looked to Lee to speak some word of consolation. Lee paused for a moment and then said, “Cut it down, my dear Madam, and forget it.”
There are some things we ought to forget, i.e. old hurts, old pains, and old enemies. There are other things we must not forget. We must never forget all of the good things God has done for us. We must never forget that God still has a hand in our daily lives. We must never forget that God always loves us.
Lonnie Davis
HeartWord – Luke 22:19
And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.”