Would You Rather Remember Or Forget?
Good Morning Friends,
Tomorrow is 9/11 and on that tragic day we are asked to take up the challenge in acknowledgement that Christ can reverse the results of the fall of the twin towers, for He died reversing the results of Mankind’s Fall. But we are somehow very resistant to accepting this battle cry of mercy. Instead of a proclamation of inevitable gloom, it seems a better course to stop bewailing expected strife and join Jesus in the challenge of working in the fight of our life for a peace for all times. Yes we want mercy but our heart says vengeance. But today is 9/10 and few of any recall what they were doing fifteen years ago today. So, Would You Rather Remember Or Forget?
Scripture: Jesus said, “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
John 16:33 (NIV)
Beloved, I do not consider that I have made it my own; but this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 3:13-14 (NRSV)
The spirit of the Lord God. . . has anointed me; . . . to provide for those who mourn in Zion — to give them a garland instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the mantle of praise instead of a faint spirit.
Isaiah 61:1, 3 (NRSV)
O children of Zion, be glad and rejoice in the LORD your God; for he has given the early rain for your vindication, he has poured down for you abundant rain, the early and the later rain, as before. The threshing floors shall be full of grain, the vats shall overflow with wine and oil. I will repay you for the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the hopper, the destroyer, and the cutter, my great army, which I sent against you. You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied, and praise the name of the LORD your God, who has dealt wondrously with you. And my people shall never again be put to shame. You shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I, the LORD, am your God and there is no other. And my people shall never again be put to shame.
Joel 2:23-27 (NRSV)
No longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other, “Know the Lord,” for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the Lord; for I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more.
Jeremiah 31:34 (NRSV)
Message: Victory is to be ours, but it does not come without a fight. That is the message from the words of Jesus shared in John 16:33. These words came just hours before He would be crucified and the lives of the disciples would be rocked to their very foundations. Soon the Messiah they had hoped for and believe in would die a horrible death, and they would live in fear for their own lives. But Jesus anticipating this and the persecution to come after the resurrection puts their minds at ease. The focus here is not to be about the tribulations and affliction that crushes, breaks and presses the grapes into wine, but the intoxication of the world with God’s grace and righteousness. In this world we will be poured out. We will penetrate, uncover and unmask sin that is set for destruction. Here the void in our heart is filled with Christ’s love. Here the void in the New York skyline is replaced with the water of baptism and the light of His call. Here we find the peace of God in unsettling times. We remember Jesus even as God forgets our sins. Yes we still remember where we were and what we were doing on 9/11 but did we forget something of the day before in the process? Have we learned something in error? Are we preparing for the wrong reality? You see our security as Christians goes beyond metal detectors and security checks…it goes beyond military power and even the strength of our economy. Friends, security is not the lack of trouble. It never has been and never will be. Ask those who still remember Pearl Harbor. Friends, security is the confidence and courage we have in a very present help….the presence of God. So rejoice in the work of the Holy Spirit in us today. Rejoice that we may have a sense that there is enough of God to comfort all who mourn around the world. Rejoice that God is bigger than our guilt, grief, anger and fear. Rejoice because whatever the devil is doing, God has something bigger planned that will make him sorry, he ever messed with us. Still though, even as I press forward, I miss what died of 9/10/01 as much as I remember what happened on 9/11.
Pray we expose, uncover and empty weapons of evil. Pray as God’s message in Jesus is poured out in us and begins to penetrate and permeate the world in which we live. Pray we hear Jesus’ battle cry to spread God’s grace and righteousness. Pray we not be too comfortable where we are that we find our success a hindrance to going where Jesus wants us to be. Pray that wherever He leads we be prepared to go even if it seems risky. Pray that we first find peace in Christ for outside of Him we are considered to be an enemy of God. Pray we understand God’s sovereignty and use His armor. Pray we live in obedience. Pray we live in anticipation of God fulfilling His promises on earth as in heaven. Pray we face the battle with peace. Pray the void in our hearts is filled with Jesus. Pray we think more about what God is creating out of what was lost so we might find ourselves rising from the ashes of our memories redeemed.
Blessings,
John Lawson
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