Today we come to the concluding part of the series titled “Remembering to Remember”. In this part, we shall further understand the significance of “Remembering the Lord’s several favors” under two sub-headings…
Reflect…
While we all have the universal call to be witnesses for the Lord, it would serve us well to reflect on what being a faithful witness to the Lord entails. First and foremost, like a Jew would speak passionately (SeeDeut 6:20-25), just as Moses desired, about the Pre- and Post-Passover history of his nation (Deut. 26:1-11), every Christian who is “worth his professing salt” needs to have a “BC (read “before Christ) and an AD (read “after Christ)” experience. Before Jesus came into my life, I was a wayward sinner (a spiritually wandering Aramean–SeeDeut. 26:5) with no real goal in life. After Jesus came into my life, I became a focussed God-pleaser (see2 Cor. 5:9,15-17). This ought to be the recurring refrain in every Christian’s testimony.
Secondly, one needs to become more like Christ, primarily in the matter of loving God. Jesus loved the Father the most, and this truth was reflected not only in His words, but also in His actions as well. Never was this truth more on display than at the time when He submitted Himself to indescribable, excruciating agony in order for the Heavenly Father’s Redemption plan for the World to be completed (SeeJohn 14:30-31/2 Cor. 5:21).
While within the mostly incomprehensible, indescribable Trinity, the love for one another stems primarily from the “Goodness” of one another. In the relation between the Christian and God, love ought also to emanate primarily from understanding the Father’s “Goodness”. Hence the more we remember the Lord’s amazingly good virtue of faithfulness in our lives by recollecting His various favors, the more is our gratitude. And the more gratitude, the more love. Oh boy. The role of “remembering” all of our Heavenly Father’s acts that He directs towards our overall welfare in revving up our spiritual lives, can never, ever be understated! A Christian deeply in love with the Saviour is the best advertisement for Christianity. As remarked St. Augustine, the great Christian Theologian of the fifth Century, “God is most glorified in my life, when people observe that He is more precious to me than all that life can give or death can take away.” Remember (oh remember, yet again…sic…): the width of a Christian’s Ministry for Christ is directly proportional to the depth of the relationship he or she has with Christ. By width, I do not necessarily mean popularity in the Church circles. Rather, I am referring to the number of people a Christian impacts for good, whether it is “picked up or not by the Church’s or World’s radar”.
By the way, remembering the Lord’s faithfulness in the past will also help us emotionally tide over the problems of the present (SeePsalms 42:4-5), for if He has been faithful in bringing us out of messy situations in the past, He is bound to deliver us out of our present troublesome circumstances as well…
Resolve…
During this season of resolutions, what better time than now to resolve to remember the Lord’s faithfulness every single day of 2018 and beyond!!!
In my own 35 years of walking with the good Lord, I have found “Prayer time” to be more fruitful when it has morphed from merely being a time of supplication or intercession to a time of recollection of the Lord’s innumerable favours in my life.
So folks, remember to remember what all the good Lord has done in your life. This will stoke the smouldering ember(s) of your soul better than any other spiritual exercise, giving you thereby renewed spiritual vim, vigor and vitality to gracefully “walk” through 2018 and beyond in your (I repeat your–and not John Bunyan’s) “Pilgrim’s progress”.
Prayer: Father, I am weak but Thou art strong, help me weak as I am, ungrateful as I am to always remember Thy several favors in my life. In Jesus’ Name. Amen
Suresh Manoharan
An unworthy servant
J and SM Ministries
(To acess the entire “Remembering to Remember” mini-series, please click here.)