Articles
Memories
MEMORY
by Travis Moody
God created man. With His foreknowledge of what our needs would be, the LORD equipped us with many tools. Not the least of which is the power of memory. Memory is the ability to reproduce or identify what has been learned or experienced. Have you ever considered how valuable memory is? What if you had no memory? How could you function? Once you left home, how would you get back without a memory of where home was? You need food but can’t remember where the store is. If you find a store, you can’t recall what you needed. You can’t pay because where did you put your wallet? And if you find a wallet…is that one yours? You see the point? Memory is vital to our survival physically. The same is true spiritually.
Throughout the bible, God places great emphasis on memory. In fact, He has instituted several memorials in order to cause us to call to mind some significant past event. Consider the rainbow. In Gen. 9:8-17, the rainbow is given as a token of a covenant with every living thing; to cause both God and man to remember. In Ex. 12, the Passover is given as a reminder of the salvation of the Israelites in Egypt. It was established as an annual observance to cause men to remember this event. Even in the New Testament the Lord’s Supper is commanded weekly as a reminder of Christ and what he has done for us. Let us consider a few commands in the Bible that require us to remember.
REMEMBER THY CREATOR:
Solomon issues a command in Eccl. 12:1 to, “Remember now your creator in the days of thy youth…” Remembering the LORD in youth is better because it is easier, at that time, to refrain from evil practices than it is to break away from the long established bad habits of sin in later years. Indeed, old habits die hard. The farther one goes in life without being obedient to God’s will, the more likely he is to never obey God at all. There is a reason why so few aged people ever obey the gospel. It is estimated that 9/10ths of those who obey the gospel do so before they are 20 years old. It is also estimated that approximately ¼ of all people die before they reach the age of 20. Combine these numbers with the fact that the average lifespan (not life expectancy) is somewhere around the age of 50 (which has only recently gone up from less than 40 years old) and you see a big problem. If you are 25 years old and have not obeyed the gospel, the chances of you ever doing so are somewhere around 5,000 to 1 that you never will. If you are 35 years old, and still out of Christ, your chances are about 25,000 to 1. If you are 45 years old, and have not obeyed the gospel, the odds are around 80,000 to 1 that you never will. If 50 years old, the odds that you will ever obey the gospel of Jesus Christ are approximately 150,000 to 1 against you ever doing so. Odds like these serve only to highlight the desperate need to remember the LORD in thy youth and to make every effort we can to teach our children and train them up in the way that they should go. With each passing second, they inch closer and closer to eternity and with each passing second the odds are drastically stacking against them to ever obey the gospel.
REMEMBER THE CONSEQUENCES OF DISOBEDIENCE:
The LORD gives what seems to be countless warnings against disobeying the will of God. Included in the warnings are calls to remember those who did not obey and who were consequently punished. Consider Luke 17:32 where Jesus warns the men in the field against turning back to their homes. By uttering 3 words, Jesus issues a sober reminder of an event that they were intimately familiar with: Remember Lot’s wife. Instantly these men were taken back an event that demonstrated vividly the consequences of disobedience to the will of God. Consider also 2 Peter 2:6, where God made Sodom and Gomorrah an example “unto those who should after live ungodly.” What was the point of calling upon the memory of men? To issue a resounding warning against living ungodly and highlight the consequences of doing so. God calls upon men to use their memories of the past to reshape the future. Yes, memory is a powerful instrument of God, used to correct his children and direct their paths in obedience.
MEMORY IS CARRIED BEYOND THE GRAVE:
Paul says in 1 Tim. 6:7, “For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.” Contextually, he says this as he disgraces the love of material things. Though Paul points out that we can carry no physical things out of this world at death, there is at least one non-material thing that we will keep; our memories. In Luke 16:25, the rich man who had died and was now in hades, was called upon to remember. Abraham said, “…Son remember that thou in thy lifetime received thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things; but now he is comforted, and thou are tormented.” Even beyond the grave, the rich man had the ability to remember the things done on earth, even the fact that he had brothers still living at his father’s house. How blessed for those obedient followers of Jesus, who after death can reminisce on their lives with the joy of having overcome the trials and tragedies of life only to be carried by angels to the paradise of God. But oh, how terrifying for those disobedient rebels who, while being tormented in flame, are left only to recall the opportunities forever lost.
CONCLUSION:
Since God has given us the power of memory, let us use it to keep ourselves obedient to His will. Remember thy creator in the days of thy youth. Remember the consequences of sin and the punishment of those who, in the past, have been guilty of disobedience. And live your life on this earth in such a way that you are able to recall, with joy, the life of obedience you chose to live instead of having to look back in horror at a life spent in the pursuit of passing pleasures and material things.
