You Would Think After All These Years...

This morning my family was eating breakfast together and my eldest, Taylor, age 5 (almost 6) declared, “More cereal!”

I turned to Kim and said, “You would think after all these years that he would learn”. Meaning, that after at least 5 years of his parents telling him to ask for something by saying “please” that he would learn to use this word when making his request.

Then it dawned on me and I turned again to Kim and said, “I wonder if God sometimes turns to the angels and says in reference to me, ‘You would think after all these years that he would learn’”. Meaning, just like my son Taylor, I fail to actualize in my life the truths of God's word that I have been taught over and over again. Even more telling is the fact that I have had 32 years and not 5!

Unfortunately, being a forgetful person who fails to learn is too often my testimony. It is also the testimony of the people of God in the Bible. We quickly forget and fail to learn the lessons that God has for us. Think of all the times in the Old Testament where God says, “Remember! I am the God who brought you up out of Egypt”. Meaning, remember when you saw the gigantic waters part? Remember when you saw me mightily defeat Pharaoh? Remember how I rescued you when you thought you were dead?

The New Testament also very clearly calls us to be a people who remember. What did Jesus say during the Last Supper? “Do this in remembrance of me”. This is why we partake in the Lord’s Supper as often as we can. We are a people who forget and fail to learn, yet God has given us a picture to draw our minds back to the death of Christ on our behalf.

We are called to remember for a purpose: So we can become a people who would not easily forget and would really learn so that the truth of God’s revelation might transform us more and more into the image of Christ.