musings

The Daily Struggle To Remember

Only take care, and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things that your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life.

                                                                 Deuteronomy 4:9

Perhaps, the greatest indicator of our fallen and sinful nature is our tendency to forget. To forget the goodness of God. To forget the gravity and the severity of sin. And most importantly, to forget the grace of God that was perfected through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Far too often, I have found myself being overly complacent or mindlessly careless of the things of the Spirit of God. I have sung too many worship songs without thinking about the lyrics. I have prayed too many prayers without meaning the words that I utter. I have sinned the same sin far too often without being genuinely repentant. As I reflect on my own struggles, I am convinced that all of my shortcomings have been directly or indirectly because the Gospel was not fresh on my mind. I forgot who God is and what He did on my behalf.

I don’t think it’s coincidence that in both testaments of the Bible, God/Jesus reminds his people to remember. As you read the Old Testament, you read about the Israelites forgetting time and time again about how God saved and protected them. In fact, the Passover was instituted so that they would remember the time when God led them out of Egypt. In the New Testament, Jesus tells his disciples to take communion often so that they/we would remember Jesus until the day he comes back.

We must ask ourselves, why does God keep telling us to remember, remember, remember? It’s because we forget easily. We forget often and we forget quickly. That is why it is a daily struggle to remember. We must remember the Gospel. We must remember the cross each and every day so that our lives may be lived entirely for the Glory of God. As disciples of Jesus Christ, let us immerse ourselves in the Gospel daily. Let us preach the Gospel to ourselves each and every morning! Let the conversations that we have with our brothers and sisters be Christ-centered and Christ-exalting! Let us sing songs of praise that worship and exalt our Lord Jesus Christ! We have to remember! We must fight to remember!