What a Story She Had!
John 8:9 And Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst.
Things that the Lord Remembers
The Lord made a promise after he destroyed the earth with a flood. His promise was that He would never do that again. He has set a rainbow in the clouds as a memorial to that promise. In Genesis 9:16 God says, “The rainbow shall be in the cloud, and I will look on it to remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.” Does God forget? He does not forget in the sense that He loses His memory. But there are some things that He chooses not to take note of or memorialize or punish any more. The sins of the redeemed are included in things that God chooses not to remember in that sense (Hebrews 8:12).
God doesn’t really need a rainbow to be reminded of His promise, but from time to time He takes note of that promise and broadcasts it to the world by setting a beautiful rainbow in the clouds. While He doesn’t need reminding, we do. After a lot of storms and floods, it is always nice to see a beautiful rainbow and to be reminded that God in heaven will never again allow the whole earth to be destroyed by a flood. But it is also nice to know that the beauty of the heavenly rainbow reminds us of the risen Lord and His glories. The empty tomb and his promise to come again, remind us that the sin question has been settled for those who trust in the Lord. And the Lord is in heaven as a constant reminder that the sacrifice that saves is now a finished work.
Things that We Remember
This is Memorial Day weekend. We will remember and honor veterans who have died for their country and for the freedoms that we enjoy. We should probably also remember that violence begets violence and war begets war and that death in wars will not cease until the Lord comes. We should be reminded of the depravity of the human heart and of man’s willingness to shed the blood of others. We will honor the veterans as we should; but if you are like me, you will wonder why it is necessary to kill and maim in order to survive in this cruel world.
We will also remember our loved ones who have died. We haven’t really forgotten them but in the hustle and bustle of daily life, we need a time to spend in reflection. Most of us aren’t really occupied with our loved ones who have died in our day to day activities unless their deaths have been recent. So we need a time of reflection when we set other things aside to honor and reflect on their lives. We don’t want the memory of our loved ones to fade away. We want to tell our children who may never have met some of them about their lives. We don’t want their lives to be meaningless and remembering or memorializing them is one way we give meaning to their lives.
Those of us who have been told about the Lord and who have met Him by faith will never forget that day either. Before we met the Lord we were “dead in trespasses and sins.” After we met Him, we were given a new life of devotion to Him. We were set free from the domination (not from the temptation) of sin. We may not remember the dates on the calendar when we met Him, but who can forget what it was like to be found by the Lord, the Savior of the world? I wonder how many of us reading this today have a story to tell? The woman taken in adultery in John 8 had quite a story. She was caught in the very act of sin. Men hypocritically condemned her. When she stood alone before the Lorde expecting His condemnation, she received His love and understanding. She was not given a license to sin, but she was given a powerful reason to love this One who could forgive sins. What a story she had! I suspect it was a difficult story to tell because the story had no meaning without telling about how she had been “caught.” But she had a story and she had a Savior. She had a memory that would be a blessing to her the rest of her life.
We who are saved also remember the Lord. We do it often according to 1 Corinthians 11:25. It is done with other Christians. In 1st Corinthians 11 they were coming together to eat the Lord’s Supper. When the church came together in apostolic times it seems that this was one of the things that they did. It was a priority with them. This keeps the memory of the Living Lord alive because those who believe in Him will be doing this until He comes.
Conclusion
As we remember loved ones and veterans this weekend, I hope we will also remember the Lord in our church gatherings this Lord’s day. I hope we can also remember meeting the Lord and hearing those words, “Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more.”
Bruce Collins
Meditation for the week of May 24, 2015