Buried Memories—Yeah, You Wish
Not all of our memories are good. There are some memories we want to repress, memories we want stuffed where reflection won't occur.
The pain is so great, why dig all that up? Nope, no way. We want them buried and kept buried.
Here's why that’s not a good strategy. If we’re still trying to repress a memory, that means we haven't processed it well.
Yes, God chooses to forget and to bury sin and failure in the deepest sea, but he does so as a manifestation of grace. Repressed memories haven't experienced this grace! And that's why the pain is so great—still, after all these years!
What we buried, we are still trying to block. So what does that tell you? This strategy isn't working! However, when grace has its way, the outcome is different. Though you will still remember the facts, that pain will be gone!
As we track the things Scripture tells us to remember, we learn that not only are we to remember our freedom (salvation), and our fight (the battle with the flesh) but we are also to remember our fall. Not the fall that occurred millennia ago in the Garden of Eden, but a subsequent fall with a lamentable landing.
In Revelation, chapter 2, verses 4 and 5, the Lord speaks these words to the church at Ephesus: “Nevertheless, I have something against you, that you have left your first love. Remember therefore from where you have fallen ....”
A fall at Ephesus? Why, the church at Ephesus was a veritable beehive of industry; it was a megachurch booming for God! Had you and I been on the scene, we would have concluded that this church—pure in doctrine and abounding in good works—was truly a church after God’s own heart! But Jesus indicated there was a chilly distance separating this church from him.
All the external stuff was good; indeed, it merited all the commendation it received. But … but…on the inside something awful had happened. Their love for Jesus had grown so cold it wasn't there anymore! They had left their first love.
Jesus didn't leave them, they left Jesus.
Has this happened to you? Can you remember a time when your own walk with the Lord was a lot closer than it is right now? If so, how did you let slip away what was once so good?
Surely, you can’t like the way it is now. And yet you’ve been in this rut for a long, long time.
Let this be the day then when you make the decision to rekindle your love for Jesus.
Let the Spirit of God move strongly again in your heart. This same Spirit we're not to grieve is wanting Jesus not to be grieved.
Peter knew this experience very well, for there was once a time in his life when he was so committed to the Lord. But then … Peter fell.
You know the story well.
After the great crisis came, and Peter’s courage failed just as Jesus predicted it would, Peter stumbled along in a bewildered stupor when Jesus—now under arrest and on his way to the cross, came out from one illegal proceeding and was in transition to another, when suddenly he saw Peter.
There were no words at the time ... no accusations ... no denunciations—just a look.
But wouldn’t you have hated for the Lord to look at you with this look of wounded love?
The Bible tells us it was that look that caused Peter to remember. He suddenly remembered the word the Lord had spoken about his fall, his failure.
Struck by that look, Peter went and wept bitterly!
Oh, he had vowed uncommon courage, and he meant it too! But look what happened?
Given the present condition of your heart, could it be that Jesus might look at you with wounded love? And if so, might not the present moment be the best time for this whole ordeal to end?
Surely, we don’t want the story to end like this: a grievous failure and a saddened Savior.
The fall—made permanent if we don’t deal with it, and made tragic if we fail to remember why it occurred.
So why did it occur? This call to remember isn't voiced to make you feel bad; it has a higher purpose. Remember what went wrong so the Lord can help you make it right. You know what it is; after all, it happened to you!
Sobered by these thoughts, stirred by these thoughts, won’t you run to Jesus, just as Peter did that day on the beach. This sorry episode can end today if you'll let Jesus minister to you, as he will be faithful to do because he is your Savior, too.
It’s interesting that after experiencing the refreshment of soul that comes from repentance, David—in his excitement, and in his great gratitude—told the Lord, I will teach transgressors your ways and they will be converted to you (Psalm 51:13).
That’s a good way to build new memories, memories you’ll fondly remember and not want to forget.
