Remember What It was Like

3.13.2010

Deuteronomy 24:22 22 You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt; therefore I command you to do this. ESV

What is the past good for? The past is good for lessons learned. Hopefully the things we did in the past we learn from, and either try to do again – if they are good – or avoid like the plague if they are bad. We’re not to live in the past but we are to remember it.

Paul said, “But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead…” Paul was forgetting what he’d built his life upon – all of his achievements and Jewish merits – but Paul never forgot he was a Jew; he forgot what he valued as important. Paul remembered where he came from and would be the first one to say, “Don’t build your life on man-made stuff in order to find worthiness and meaning; what’s important is the promise of God.”

God instructed His people to remember the grace He gave to them in their past slavery and to offer that same grace to others in their present distress – kind of a, be kind to others as I have been kind to you. His people were free from slavery but not free to be arrogant, hard-hearted, and mean…

Our freedom in Christ is partly our deliverance from arrogance and dispassion. Freedom in Christ opens our eyes to see that others may still be struggling with issues we’ve been delivered from. Freedom in Christ ought to foster compassion for the lost and an ability to identify with what they fight with on an ongoing basis. Freedom in Christ is the ability to remember what it was like without Him so that we can now what it’s like with Him to others who don’t yet know.

Father in Heaven,
You don’t expect me to live in the past but to learn from the past and live for now so that I can experience Christ in the moment with others and share Him with those who don’t yet know… in His Name, amen.