Among my many faults and shortcomings, one gets me into more trouble than the others. Well, really two. One is my hearing loss. My wife calls it selective hearing loss. I must admit there are times I would rather not hear something but, honey, I really do have some hearing loss. The fault I struggle with most is memory.
I have a cousin that forgets nothing. He readily remembers names, phone numbers, prices, past conversations (to the detail), and a whole host of other things. I always go back to a quote I was told came from Albert Einstein, who said there were certain things he did not commit to memory because he did not want to unnecessarily take up brain space with trivial things that can be readily looked up…like phone numbers. I have not verified this comment but I have used it. My wife is also one of those people who never forgets and therein is my problem. I forget about everything.
Forgetfulness isn’t all bad. My mother had dementia or mild Alzheimer’s before she passed away and the nice thing about it was, if something upset her, she had forgotten all about it in a matter of minutes.
In a bible study the other evening, I was reminded about things we must not forget. In Isaiah 46 it is written, “Remember this, fix it in your mind, take heart…I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me.” In Numbers 15 God told Moses, “Throughout the generations to come you are to make tassels on the corners of your garments…so you will remember all the commands of the Lord…” Referring to the Passover feast, Moses told the Israelites, recorded in Exodus 12, “When you enter the land that the Lord will give you as he promised, observe this ceremony. And when your children ask you, ‘what does this ceremony mean to you?’ then tell them…” The feast is a reminder.
One of my favorite verses comes from Joshua 4. After the Israelites had crossed the Jordan into the promise land, Joshua told them to go back into the riverbed and take up twelve stones to serve as a sign. Joshua said to them, “when your children ask you ‘What do these stones mean?’ tell them.” He did this so they would remember all that God had done.
We have a reminder for us today that we I often times overlook the significance of. In the upper room, the Lord ate a meal with his disciples that we refer to as the “Last Supper”. In the past, I have often concentrated more on the elements, the bread and the wine, as being the body and blood of Christ and missed the importance of the practice. Jesus said, “do this in remembrance of me.” Our children have asked more than once why do we do this? I have also been asked by some, “Why do you talk about drinking blood and eating flesh in your church service?”
Jesus established this service so we would not forget his sacrifice for us. It is a reminder of how He lived and how we should live. It is a reminder of just how much he loved us and what he went through to purchase our salvation. If you take communion weekly, monthly, or quarterly, don’t let it slip by as a mid-morning snack, it is much much more. Remember! And, speaking of memory loss, for those of you who were looking for the article last week……sorry, I forgot.
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