The Trick to Remembering

One good thing about moving to a new house is the work-out it requires, and I’m not just talking about the physical part that always seem to pinpoint those rarely used muscles. Apart from packing boxes and toting around large pieces of furniture, the mental workout is almost as time consuming and sometimes just as strenuous.

A crumpled post-it note, a box of old cards, a “lost” baby toy now revealed—with each trigger uncovered, forgotten areas on my switchboard slough off the cobwebs to light up brightly once again. The memories can make me smile, cry, or laugh as well as feel anew a long-ago heart’s piercing or melting.

Although we might think we’re quite good at forgetting most days, our brains were made for remembering.

While it’s obvious that the ability to remember is important for untold reasons, God imparted two in particular to me this week.

First is remembering who God is. Psalm 111:4 says, “He has made His wonders to be remembered; the Lord is gracious and compassionate.” All of God’s creation from the single blade of grass to the highest mountain, from the fingers on a newborn’s hand to the toothless grin of a centurion—his wonders are intended to trigger our remembrance of who God is. He is the Alpha and Omega, the Creator of the universe who sustains His creation moment by moment. He is the all-knowing, all-powerful, perfectly holy, and merciful judge who does nothing against His true character and nothing that is not in our eternal best interests.

To remember who God is, is the only way to survive victoriously those daily circumstances that can lead to fleshly worry, fear, or disappointment.

Secondly is remembering who I am. In a letter to the Ephesians, Paul states, “Therefore remember that formerly you, the Gentiles in the flesh,…remember that you were at that time separate from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ” (Eph. 2:11-13).

Here, he warns the Ephesians to not be too puffed up or prideful about their salvation, to not think they are better than others who remain lost in sin and disbelief.

We must never forget that we Christians, too, were once separated from the hope of eternity in Christ with nothing good in us to warrant that salvation. We must never forget that without the Holy Spirit residing within our souls, we would be held completely captive by our fleshly, sinful nature.

Without this remembrance of who we truly are without Christ residing within us, we might fail to thank Him daily for the gift He bestowed on us through His death. And what’s worse, we might fail to be merciful to others who are lost, choosing instead to haughtily criticize their immoral, sinful actions instead of praying for them and leading them in the right direction.

Help us, O Lord to always remember. We are mere sinners, thankfully saved by God’s grace. Nothing more.