Remember

 Meditations on Seeking the Life in Christ

November 17, 2020

Remember

“I am the Lord your God, who rescued you from the land of Egypt, the place of your slavery.

Exodus 20:2

At the very heart of the Ten Commandments is an invitation for the people of God to remember. God wants us to remember that we were all in a place of slavery – slavery to sin. We were all under the oppressive rule of the one who is committed to our total destruction: “The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy” (John 10:10a). God wants us to remember that on our journey to make the life in Christ our way of life, it is God who leads us, it is God who feeds us, it is God who sustains us, it is God who is the source of our life. Our life does not belong to us. By creation and redemption our life belongs to God.

Remember.

I heard someone observe that one of the greatest contributions of the twentieth century was the development of self-help groups, the apex of which is AA. At the very core of AA is remembrance. At every meeting, every member introduces themselves by remembering: “Hello, I am John, and I am an alcoholic.” By the latter half of the twentieth century, groups formed that believed a person could be cured of alcoholism, and they dropped the remembrance part of their introductions. Those groups never really caught on. Many years ago, a woman was singing pop songs from musicals at a restaurant. In the middle of the concert she sang Psalm 121, “I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence comes my help.” That song didn’t seem to fit. Later, when asked about including the song, she said, “If you knew about my life growing up, you would realize it was the most appropriate song I sang.” She was asked, “Wouldn’t it be best just to forget that life?” And she said, “No, no.”

Remember.

My Takeaway: We are still on our journey to Christ the King Sunday, and then the Season of Advent. (Christ the King Sunday – November 22. Advent begins November 29.) I sense a need to pause and remember from whence I have come, and to remember who, and whose, I am today. And to express my love and devotion to the One who has brought me safely thus far and the One who will lead me safely home. Perhaps you too will pause today and remember.

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

 

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com. The BLOG is also available on Amazon Kindle, by subscription.

 

Copyright © 2020 by Alex M. Knight

 

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.