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Do
You Remember?
Do you remember what happened on September 11, 2001? You say, “What
American adult could forget?” Well said -- But how often
do you think of the terrible events of that day? In the past year, how
many times have the images of that morning penetrated your thoughts? The
planes... the fireballs... the burning towers... The Pentagon... the
hole in the ground in Pennsylvania -- Do you think of these often?
Almost five years have passed, and apparently the time elapsed has
dulled in many the memory of that day and its impact. Many have been
lulled to sleep by the comparative serenity on our shores these past
1500 days, having forgotten how bad things were on that day as well as
the danger that still daily exists. Some seem to think there is no enemy
out there. Well, excuse me, but how could we forget?!
I’m not trying to make a political statement here -- rather, a point
with a spiritual application; for such reminds me of the short memories
of the Israelites shortly after their flight from Egyptian bondage. God
had delivered them with a “strong hand” through a series of plagues
against their captors, and was bringing them to the promised land of
Canaan. Yet just over a year after they left the atrocities of
captivity, they were fondly thinking about the times back in Egypt. “Who
will give us meat to eat?” they demanded. “We remember the fish which we
ate freely in Egypt, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions,
and the garlic” (Numbers 11:4,5). What was happening here? Surely they
had not forgotten the abuse, violence, and murder in Egypt? But they
had!
Just so, there are children of God today who apparently have forgotten
the terrible state of sin from whence they came. Their eyes are not open
to the temptations that lie in wait. Perhaps the years have lulled them
to sleep... they have forgotten the bondage they were in, that they were
“slaves of uncleanness” (Romans 6:19). Dear Christian, is this you? The
apostle Paul once told a group of saints, “Therefore remember
that you, once Gentiles in the flesh... -- that at that time you were
without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and
strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God
in the world” (Ephesians 2:11,12). They were not to forget the hopeless
state they had come out of, and neither should we, for such is a sure
sign of being spiritually “shortsighted, even to blindness” (2 Peter
1:9).
We need to remember the past, and stir ourselves to recognize the danger
that still lurks (1 Corinthians 10:12). Satan is just around the corner.
He really is. Let us not forget. Let us be vigilant.
Do you remember?
--Mike Noble
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