Memory is a wonderful blessing; yet, sometimes it is a curse, but the loss of it is also tragic. I am the age at which the medical profession asks, once a year or so, if you will come in for a “wellness” test. Part of that exam is reading a short story, at the conclusion of which the administrator (nurse) asks a few questions about details in the story. It is a test to see if you still have command of your short-term memory. I had one of these wellness tests a few years ago and passed; this year, however, the nurse mentioned the test, which I was ready to take. But she never did administer it, and I did not ask her to. Maybe it was because I brought delicious yeast rolls and donuts from Indy’s favorite bakery when I checked into the office as I arrived!
In the Bible there are lots of admonitions to remember. The very first admonition or command to remember something is Ex. 20:8: “Remember the sabbath day to keep it holy.” Is this 4th of the 10 commandments still binding today? Well, is the 7th still binding: “Thou shalt not kill”? Or the 8th: “Thou shalt not commit adultery”? Or the 1st: “Thou shalt have no other gods before me”? “Remember the Sabbath Day is a universal principle. One day in seven is supposed to be set aside for rest and worship. The Lord set the example in the first week of the world when, after creating the heavens and the earth and every living thing in the heavens, and on land and in the seas, including humans, He rested. He set the pattern long before one day in seven was encoded into the law. The early church transferred the day of worship and rest from the seventh day to the first day of the week, in celebration of Christ’s resurrection from the dead on the first day. So, it is still a principle that believers worldwide, since the Day of Pentecost to the present, have honored; and we keep it, not in a legalistic fashion, but in the spirit of liberty, honoring the Lord of the Sabbath (rest) who kept the law, fulfilled the law, and set us free from the bondage of the law.
Other commands:
- 2. “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.’” (Eccl. 12:1) The last chapter of this book of wisdom, Ecclesiastes, closes with the reason why each person ought to remember their creator in the days of their youth: “Fear God and keep His commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing….” (Eccl. 12:13, 14)
- 3. “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.” (Hebs. 13:7) Paul says in I Tim. 5:17 that elders who rule well ought to be counted worthy of double honor, “especially those who labor in the word and doctrine.” The word rule can mean command, in a military sense. But a Greek lexicon gives as its first meaning “lead.” A pastor, an under-shepherd, leads the flock over which the Lord has made him overseer. It is a leadership of love. There are myriad ways to honor one’s pastor, and a well-fed flock ought to earnestly strive to do so.
- 4. Paul exhorts all in Gal. 2:10 that “we should remember the poor; the same which I also was forward to do.” So very many admonitions from the wise king’s pen in Proverbs about how we should think of and treat the poor! (Provs. 14:31; also, Ps. 41:1)
- 5. Again, in Hebrews 13, the Holy Spirit moves the writer to tell us to “remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them, and them which suffer, as being yourselves also in the body.” (v.3) In my lifetime, I have witnessed the release of Pastor Georgi Vins from a Soviet concentration camp. He was exiled to the U.S. shortly before Ronald Reagan became president. Scores of other prisoners were released in the ‘90’s as a result of the prayers and focused attention of God’s people worldwide. The window was only opened briefly, but we have seen what “remembering them that are in bonds” can do. Many Christians across the world are suffering in detention centers for their faith. We dare not live as though this horrendous persecution does not exist today.
- 6. We must also take time to meditate upon so great salvation that we enjoy because of the grace of God: There is no better way to do this than to review what God has done for us: “Wherefore, remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called Circumcision in the flesh made by hands….” Eph. 2:11-13
- 7. Or, how about this memory jogger by Paul as he bade farewell to the elders of Ephesus: “I have shewed you all things, how that so labouring ye ought to support the weak, and to REMEMBER the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’” (Acts 20:35). Try it and you’ll see what He meant.
- 8. Jesus, in one of his sermons as recorded only in Luke’s gospel, said: “Remember Lot’s wife.” This is a warning to the people of God, of all time, to keep moving ahead toward that city whose builder and maker is God, not looking back to the condemned world—which John warns that we are not to be having a love affair with. (Luke 17:32; I John 2:15-17)
- 9. The Holy Spirit moved Isaiah to quote almighty God, who said: “Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God and there is none like me.” (Isa.46:9) It is increasingly difficult to remember the former things of old: days when preachers preached without Power Points, congregations sang using hymnbooks, and people were called to respond during an invitation by hitting the “sawdust” trail and kneeling at an old-fashioned altar.
- 10. We began in the first book of the Bible; let us conclude from the last book of the Word of God. To the church in Ephesus and to all churches of all time: “Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.” (Rev. 2:5)
Rudyard Kipling’s Recessional in 1897 for Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee (i.e., 60th anniversary):
“God of our fathers, known of old; Lord of our far-flung battle line; Beneath whose awful hand we hold, Dominion over palm and pine; Lord God of hosts, be with us yet; Lest we forget; Lest we forget!”
YOU and GOD 