TRYING TO REMEMBER

I Was Just Thinking About – TRYING TO REMEMBER.

Years ago, a popular song urged: “Try to remember when life was so tender; That no one wept except the willow; Try to remember when life was so tender, and dreams were kept beside your pillow…Try to remember and if you remember then follow. Follow.”  A child’s game that many participated in was "Follow the Leader." The object of the game was whatever the Leader did or wherever the Leader went, those in line who were following were expected to duplicate. Learning to follow and remembering is not always easy to do.

The Devotional writer, Joseph Stowell (09/10/17 – Get More Strength for the Journey) reminds us: “It’s easy to forget to pick up the clothes at the dry-cleaners, or even the kids at daycare. In our humanness, we’re all prone to forget. And it gets worse with age! We get preoccupied and distracted. Unfortunately, it’s not just the little, everyday things that we forget. It’s easy to overlook the big things, like the peace in the midst of stress and the power against great odds that are both available to us through prayer. When we’re not having a good day, it’s easy to forget the joy of our salvation. We even forget the death of Jesus for us—the very reason that we can live with undefeatable hope and assurance. Which means that forgetting about Jesus may open the door of your heart to the tormentors of hopelessness and insecurity.”

The principle of remembering and following are basic to what it means to be a Biblical Christian. In Matthew 16:24, the words recorded are very clear: “Jesus said to his disciples: Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.” To the scattering and suffering believers of his day, Peter reminded the people: “To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps.” In 1721, Isaac Watts asked some very important questions in the Hymn: Am I A Soldier Of The Cross? The second stanza includes these words: “Must I be carried to the skies On flowery beds of ease, While others fought to win the prize, And sailed through bloody seas?

The statistics are not kind about the thoughts an increasing number of church-type people have expressed and are expressing. On November 17, 2014, Huffington Post Blog raised this question: “NONES!” are Now “DONES” Is the Church Dying? Generally, “the ‘nones’ are a number of Americans who do not identify with any religion. The group continues to grow at a rapid pace. One-fifth of the U.S. public – and a third of adults under 30 – are religiously unaffiliated today, the highest percentages ever in Pew Research Center polling. Some of the American Church’s most faithful and active members are becoming the quickest to permanently walk out the doors. The Dones are fatigued with the Sunday routine of plop, pray and pay. They want to play. They want to participate. But they feel spurned at every turn.” Too many churches are closing for us to continue to “forget” the obvious – doing it God’s way versus man’s faltering ways.

Prayerfully – consider these things with me.