FAITH: HAVING A GOOD MEMORY
The man who lacks them is short-sighted and blind; he has forgotten how he was cleansed from his former sins. 2 Peter 1:9, N.E.B.
I've finally figured out why it has been so easy for me to be so hard on the children of Israel. I used to become so annoyed at them for so quickly forgetting God's miraculous acts among them and resorting so soon to the faithless murmurings and rebellions of their recent past. I have often wondered how people could be so dense, especially in the face of such astounding miracles. but now I have come to the painful conclusion that I am not all that much different from them. The difference is that the Old Testament packs several lifetimes of history into a few paragraphs, and I'm still forgetting my way through one short lifetime.
Oh, how much we need a good memory! If faith is a relationship of confidence in God, based upon His reliable dealings with us in the past, then Satan can work havoc with our faith just by getting us to forget. The enemy can stunt our growth by getting us to forget our heritage, our own spiritual pilgrimage with our Father, for God's favorite way of revealing Himself to us is through active interaction with us.
Peter puts all these concepts into a very important setting in today's verse. He has been explaining some of the character qualities that Christ wants for His people: faith, virtue, knowledge, self-control, fortitude, piety, brotherly kindness, and love. He knows that as we look at this list of qualities, we will notice that we have not fully incorporated them into love lives. So he explains why: We are shortsighted, blind, and forgetful that we have been cleansed of our former sins.
You see, if we still doubt that God has forgiven our sins, then any quest for Christlikeness will be flavored by desires to earn that forgiveness, and we will be groveling for His favor. To keenly remember His forgiveness is to be set free from selfish clamoring for it--set free to turn toward Christ for His own sake.
In listening to the public prayers of others we more often hear people praying "Please forgive our sins" than we hear "Thank You for having forgiven our sins." Could this mean that too many Christians have forgotten the message of a forgiving Lord? Or, worse yet, that they never heard it in the first place?
The man who lacks them is short-sighted and blind; he has forgotten how he was cleansed from his former sins. 2 Peter 1:9, N.E.B.
I've finally figured out why it has been so easy for me to be so hard on the children of Israel. I used to become so annoyed at them for so quickly forgetting God's miraculous acts among them and resorting so soon to the faithless murmurings and rebellions of their recent past. I have often wondered how people could be so dense, especially in the face of such astounding miracles. but now I have come to the painful conclusion that I am not all that much different from them. The difference is that the Old Testament packs several lifetimes of history into a few paragraphs, and I'm still forgetting my way through one short lifetime.
Oh, how much we need a good memory! If faith is a relationship of confidence in God, based upon His reliable dealings with us in the past, then Satan can work havoc with our faith just by getting us to forget. The enemy can stunt our growth by getting us to forget our heritage, our own spiritual pilgrimage with our Father, for God's favorite way of revealing Himself to us is through active interaction with us.
Peter puts all these concepts into a very important setting in today's verse. He has been explaining some of the character qualities that Christ wants for His people: faith, virtue, knowledge, self-control, fortitude, piety, brotherly kindness, and love. He knows that as we look at this list of qualities, we will notice that we have not fully incorporated them into love lives. So he explains why: We are shortsighted, blind, and forgetful that we have been cleansed of our former sins.
You see, if we still doubt that God has forgiven our sins, then any quest for Christlikeness will be flavored by desires to earn that forgiveness, and we will be groveling for His favor. To keenly remember His forgiveness is to be set free from selfish clamoring for it--set free to turn toward Christ for His own sake.
In listening to the public prayers of others we more often hear people praying "Please forgive our sins" than we hear "Thank You for having forgiven our sins." Could this mean that too many Christians have forgotten the message of a forgiving Lord? Or, worse yet, that they never heard it in the first place?
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