Daily devotional, March 22, 2024 Selective amnesia
"Remember not the sins of my youth or my transgressions; according to your steadfast love remember me, for the sake of your goodness, O Lord!" Psalm 25:7
After watching several drama series from various cultures, I have come to realize that the protagonist incurring some kind of amnesia remains to be a popular theme. Some totally forget about the life they lived following an accident, some only have limited memory of what they have experienced, while other stories revolve on the time when the person regains the memories he temporarily lost.
As followers of Jesus Christ, we are being called to select the memories that we treasure. That we replay over in our heads life scenes that bring us peace and joy. Just like the Virgin Mary who lovingly put in remembrance everything that has happened the day Jesus Christ was born:
"But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart. And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them."
Luke 2:19-20
This however does not mean that we will forget about the challenges we have experienced. Difficulties are indeed part of our lives, but we are being called to remember the better part of it.
So what is the better part? The better part is the part when we have been delivered by our Lord and Savior from the hardships that we have experienced. The part when we have endured the trials and sufferings, thanks to the one true God who never left us alone and empty.
In the Old Testament, the Lord commanded Joshua to put up memorial stones so that they can remember and testify to the succeeding generations how the Lord mightily performed miracles for them so that they could get to the Promised Land.
"And he said to the people of Israel, “When your children ask their fathers in times to come, ‘What do these stones mean?’ then you shall let your children know, ‘Israel passed over this Jordan on dry ground.’ For the Lord your God dried up the waters of the Jordan for you until you passed over, as the Lord your God did to the Red Sea, which he dried up for us until we passed over,so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the hand of the Lord is mighty, that you may fear the Lord your God forever.” Joshua 4:21-24
As for the things that we have to forget, well these are the things that have brought us grief. For instance the hurts we have experienced from others especially those closest to us. Forgiving and forgetting may be difficult, but God himself modeled this to us. In the Book of the Prophet Isaiah he said:
“I, I am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins. Put me in remembrance; let us argue together; set forth your case, that you may be proved right." Isaiah 43:25-26
If we follow the Lord’s lead, we will be freed from the heaviness of these hurts weighing down our hearts. Letting go of the pain can unchain us from whatever trauma we have experienced.
Another thing that the Bible tells us to forget are the wrong decisions we may have made and the wayward life we have once lived. Regrets is a real part of life. While it can be helpful when it comes to trying to improve ourselves and the choices that we make, focusing on it might lead us to depression.
In his letter to the Philippian Church St. Paul the Apostle gave himself as an example on how he continues to work on His goal of spending eternity with Jesus despite his imperfections. And one of the ways is for him to not dwell on the past and continue to work hard for the Kingdom of God.
"Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." Philippians 3:13-14
The most important thing is once we have surrendered our lives to Christ Jesus, we have to always remember that we have been made brand new. All of our mistakes are already part of the past, and all of those have been forgiven and paid for by our Messiah, Jesus Christ. We can forget about them and focus on our new life in Christ Jesus because when we started calling on His name in faith, He made us into His new creation:
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” 2 Corinthians 5:17
Thank you for reading through our devotional today. I invite you to ponder on Joshua 4 to dig deeper on today’s topic.
Reflection Question: Are there forgettable things in your life that you keep on replaying on your mind? How can God’s assurance that He has forgotten about all our past sins help you forget about what’s weighing you down?
Conversation with the Lord: Lord Jesus Christ, thank you for being so merciful that you forget about all our past sins and failures. Give us the strength to do the same as we forgive and forget the pains others may have inflicted on us, and forgive ourselves as well for the wrong choices we have made. Amen.