REMEMBER
“Remember them which
have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God; whose faith
follow, considering the end of their conversation.” Hebrews 13:7
Throughout
life we are given leaders who have an influence upon our lives. Some of them are parents, some teachers, ministers
and youth workers, but all of them are people God has placed in authority over
us and used to direct our lives. The
word “remember” means to be mindful of, to call to mind, to think of or feel
for a person, to hold in memory and to make mention of.
I
can personally recall a pastor named McClanahan, whose testimony of salvation
made an indelible mark in my memory and whose gentle and kind nature drew me to
love Jesus. Then, a pastor named Wolfe
who loved me as a teenager seeing potential in me when I had lost sight of
any. And a pastor named Robinson who
patiently endured me as I grew to find Christ and prepared for ministry. Each of these pastors was the kind of men you
could respect and draw from. They were
giving, caring and remained faithful throughout their lives. As I think about them, I would also add the
word respect. Theirs was a faith to follow.
The
definition includes “to be mindful of”, which is to consider carefully,
thinking about, to draw conclusions based upon what you see. If I do this, I am reminded that just as these
pastors were faithful to me, I now am to be faithful to those to whom I
minister. As they led the way for me to
find Christ and prepare for ministry, I have the same responsibility to those
upon whom my life has influence.
Someday
you may be the one whose life God uses to encourage others. You will be the one they remember. What characteristics are they seeing? Is your life of faith exemplary?
REMEMBER
“I remember the days of old; I meditate on all
thy works; I muse on the work of thy hands.”
Psalm 143:5
Every
once in a while I get nostalgic and melancholy.
I allow myself to think about my grandparents, the little country church
where I grew up, and the “good old days”.
When I do, I rarely have sad memories. Mine was a delightful childhood full of
love, family and fun.
The
older I get the more history I am leaving behind me, but also, the more
experience I gain in Christ. When I take
time to muse and meditate on all He has done through my life, it leaves me
standing in wonder. Why would He even
take such time with me? What in the
world did He see in me that deserved His attention and care?
To
remember the days of old is to recall, to bring them to mind, to make a
memorial, to record and mention. The
Psalmist often used this format to break the chains of despair and melancholy
in his life. When we remember and take
time to record the goodness of the Lord in our lives it creates hope that He
can do the same again. “In the multitude
of my thoughts within me thy comforts delight my soul.” Psalm 94:19 “For
thou art my hope, O Lord God: thou art my trust from my youth.” No matter how old we get we cannot get
away from the fact that God has been active throughout our lives. He is the one we can always come back to no
matter how dark the road appears.
It
is a healthy practice to meditate and muse upon the works of God in our
lives. As we do we will come to the same
conclusion as David in Psalm 68:19 “Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us
with benefits…” God has always been
there to bless and care for our every need.
There is no reason for sad nostalgia and melancholy when we recognize
the hand of God. He there to sustain us
today: just as He was in the days of old.
Live
solidly in today…but remember and draw strength from the hand of God in your
past.
REMEMBER
“Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy
youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt
say, I have no pleasure in them...”
Ecclesiastes 12:1
This
verse is calling upon young people to also recall, bring to mind, to make a
memorial, to record and mention the activity of God in their lives. Youth can be a time of careless days and
failure to take account of the activity and moving of God. Yet, the wise young person will take time to
look and see what is happening in his spiritual life. The practice of journaling – recording what
you are learning from God’s Word, answers to prayers, observances in the lives
of others, etc. – is a good practice for life.
The
phrase,”…when thou shalt say, I have no
pleasure in them…”, is the state we come to in the end of our life. There is little savor in this world and we
come to see it is all so temporary and short.
While we are young we hold excitement and hope as we build our
lives. That is why it is so important to
take time in our youth to make memories with God. These memories will be used of God to sustain
us and give us hope in our old age. It is the joy of old age to share God’s
faithfulness and blessing with the young.
The
challenge, then, is to give our lives and fervor to God in our youth. Old age will come soon enough and if we have
served the Lord in our youth we will be able to rest in our old age that we
have done what He required. As Moses, we
will be able to end our time “full of days”.
As David charged his son, Solomon,
“be thou strong…shew thyself a
man…keep the charge of God…walk in his ways…that thou mayest prosper in all
things…”
Are
you a young person? Take heed! Serve God acceptably now with fervor and
intent. Are you an older person? Challenge the youth around you by sharing the
work of God in your life. Remind them of
the shortness of life and of the value of eternity.
REMEMBER
“Remember not the sins of my youth, nor my
transgressions: according to thy mercy remember thou me for thy goodness’ sake,
O LORD.” Psalm 25:7
“I even I, am he that blotteth out
thy transgressions for mine own name’s sake, and will not remember thy
sins.” Isaiah 43:25
Oh,
my! The sins of my youth! I’m sure we are all so thankful that there is
not a public list of our youthful mistakes and sins. Cruel words, stupid actions, poor decisions,
willful disobedience and defiance are most likely on everyone’s list. We can be so thankful for a God of mercy and
the promise that he will blot out our transgressions and not remember our sins.
I am so thankful for the promises of these
verses and for Psalm 130:3 & 4, “If thou, LORD, shouldest mark iniquities, O
Lord, who shall stand? But there is
forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared.”
God
makes this choice to not remember our sins.
When He forgives, he forgets. The
blood of His Son covers them: never to be recalled against us. Matthew Henry says, “…it is not for the sake
of anything in us, but for his own sake, for his mercies sake, and especially
for his Son’s sake.”
Isaiah
43:26 says, “Put me in remembrance…” We need to remember the promises God has made
to those seeking forgiveness, and the complete satisfaction His Son has made
for our sins. This is the only way, and
it is a sure way, to peace. As we bring
the sins of our youth to the God of ages in repentance and acknowledgment of
our own wickedness, we are assured of mercy and favour. God will forgive and He will never hold those
sins against us. We do not have to live
a life plagued and haunted by the foolishness of our youth. There is forgiveness and restoration with the
Lord.
Do
you have a past of sin? Have you placed
it under the blood by salvation? Then it
is finished. Sin cannot have dominion
over you. Take up your new position in
Christ and live therein with confidence.
“Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be
dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord…being
then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.” Romans 6:11 & 18
REMEMBER
“Remember Lot’s wife.” Luke 17:32
Just
as we are admonished to remember our leaders, we are also called upon to take
time to consider, remember, and hold in memory Lot’s wife. Poor woman, she made a bad decision, had a
weakness of faith and paid a full consequence.
She is made an example for all generations.
We
have to take a bit of time to look at the context to get a better idea of how
her example fits into this New Testament passage. Jesus is teaching on the second coming. He is telling his disciples that the day is
coming when it will be as it was in the days of Noah. People will be just living their lives as
they desire with no idea that destruction was imminent. Then, Jesus moves to the example of Lot and
Sodom. They ,too, were just living life
as they pleased with no idea of the judgment that was looming. The same will precede the second coming of
Christ. People will be living as they
please with no thought of what is to come.
In
verse 31 Jesus moves to instruction, “In
that day, he which shall be upon the housetop, and his stuff in the house, let
him not come down to take it away: and he that is in the field, let him
likewise not return back.” They are
told, as Lot and his family were instructed, to escape and not look back with no
thought of returning for any possessions.
If
we now look at verse 33 we see the reasoning.
“Whosoever shall seek to save his
life shall lose it; and whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it.”
“The sense
of this and the following verses is, yet, as great as the danger will be, do
not seek to save your lives by violating your consciences; if you do, you will
surely lose them; whereas, if you should lose them for my sake, you shall be
repaid with life everlasting. But the most probable way of preserving them now
is to be always ready to give them up: a peculiar providence shall then watch
over you, and put a difference between you and other men.” Benson
So we come
back to Lot’s wife. She traded the
temporary for the eternal. She was not
able to save her higher life, because she was too closely bound to her lower
life – her earthly loves. She was not
willing to give up her stuff – so she lost it all.
Are you
too tightly bound to your stuff? If God
called you to the mission field today, would you struggle to follow? Would you be left pining for the things you
left behind? Is this world so important
to you that you, as Lot’s wife, would be drawn back for just one more look?
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