A Good Memory

Remembering the past can be a bad thing as in the case of remembering our past sinful lives.  It can allow guilt  to control our present and even wreck our future.  This kind of sin consciousness makes our vision of our true identity in Christ blurred.  Those are the things we need to forget and allow the Holy Spirit to cleanse us from our connection to them.  Yet, remembering our deliverance from the bondages of the past is not a bad thing.  Israel often remembered the deliverance of God and celebrated the event.  At times I will reflect on my past and the deliverance the Lord has performed in me.  I am no longer connected to it or in bondage to it, but remembering my deliverance strengthens my faith for future needed victories.  Jesus actually used the phrase, "remember Lott's wife" in encouraging believers to press ahead in times of difficulty.  My wife Teresa tells of a particularly difficult day back in the early 1990's.  She was staring out the window and secretly missing a past day in another location that seemed pleasant compared to this one. She heard this soft voice say, "remember Lott's wife!"  It caused her to reject a double-minded faith and get focused again on a "now faith" in the will of God.  Remember your deliverance by the hand of our faithful God but forget your bondage that his deliverance ended.

Remembering deliverance also serves as a reminder not to go back again into bondages of the past.  Some would say, "our love for Jesus should be our motivation and not a negative memory".  While that sounds noble, we all still have the capacity to be tempted to return to past bondages and especially in moments of great trial.  I remember times when a fleeting thought would try to enter my mind about "the pleasures of sin" from the past.  Immediately I would be struck by remembering the power of the past bondage and how intense the battle for freedom had been.  That jolted me to have a fresh faith for now and to identify with my identity in Christ.  Let your memory serve to remind you of the loving power of God that has set you free from a past identity and established you firmly in your new identity in Christ!
Galatians 2:20 My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.