The Wesleyan Church will be hosting the 2010 Doctrinal Symposia in the latter half of the coming year. This year’s topic is slated to be ‘Wesleyan Perspectives on Human Nature: Perfect, Flawed, and Redeemed.’. Furthermore, the question is asked, ‘Viewed from the perspective of creation, carnality, and consecration, what was human nature intended to be, what happened to this ideal, and can people be transformed- spiritually, psychologically, sexually and socially?’
I am seriously considering the possibility of putting together a proposal for an paper and accompanying address to the Symposium. However, before putting together and submitting a proposal, I would like to hear from you about what subject(s) relating to the Symposium topic should be addressed. So there you have it- now share your thoughts!
Recently, I wrote about the biblical admonition to ‘remember.’
Today, I want to look about the ‘folly of forgetting’ and the consequences of failing to remember.
We are people who are prone to forget.
We forget birthdays.
We forget anniversaries.
We forget appointments.
We forget faces.
We forget names.
There are now entire sectors of industry which are oriented to helping us remember. You can purchase books on “How to Increase Your Memory.” You can find tons of helpful links on Google, which assert that they can help you improve your ability to remember. Curriculum and pre-packaged kits can be purchased at shopping mall kiosks, which assure a boost to your brain’s ability to remember.
Or, if you want to save yourself the hassle and the time, you can purchase a day planner, load it up with your appointments and other vital information, attach plenty of post-its, and carry around a tangible reminder of everything that is necessary and vital for you to remember.
Another solution is to rely on technology to help increase your capacity to remember. On my iPhone, I have an iCalendar, where I can store my appointments, as well as any number of other important dates. I also have a Notepad, on which I can record quick notes to help me jog my memory. I also have a program known as “Evernote,” which allows all of my technological devices to be synced together in such a way that whatever notations I make on one device are shared with all of my other devices. I have another program, known as “reQall,” which is further supposed to help me remember and recall whatever vital information I might need, at a moment’s notice.
Yet, with all of these “memory enhancing” technologies, we can still forget. We can still forget some of the most important things in life.
We can still forget to spend time with our families.
We can still forget to rest and relax, allowing our bodies the necessary time to recuperate.
We can still forget to be quiet and still before God.
We can still forget to be patient, loving, kind, self-controlled, etc.
We can still forget to love the Lord our God with every fiber of our being and to love our neighbor as we love ourselves.
In short, even with all of the various forms of aids and assistance, we can still be really forgetful people. Our schedules can still be entirely too full. Our days can still be obnoxiously long. Our lives can still be cluttered and chaotic. We can still, amid the hustle and bustle of everything, forget those things which are most important. And, if we do forget, we do so at our peril.
Our relationships with others can only be forgotten for so long, before they begin to come apart at the seams.
Our relationship with God can only survive on auto-pilot, but for a very short time.
Our bodies can only be improperly cared for, but for a short while, before they begin to rebel and suffer the effects of being neglected.
What is more, the mistakes that we have made are bound to be repeated, if we fail to remember.
The word ‘remember’ occurs, in some form, 233 times in the NIV.
Throughout the biblical text, the people of God ask God to ‘remember’ the covenant that He has made with His people. They ask Him to remember with the hope that He will deliver them from bondage and oppression. God’s people ask Him to remember, desiring that He will restore them after they have begun to suffer the consequences of some pretty bad decisions.
And, as Scripture so often reminds us- God is not forgetful. He remembers. He remembers His people. He remembers the covenant that He has made with them. He remembers the promises that He has made to them long ago.
The God of Scripture, the God that we follow and serve as Christians, is a God who remembers.
In Scripture, however, it is not only God who is asked to remember. The God who remembers asks His people to remember. He at times even commands them to remember.
They are, durings specific seasons and celebrations throughout the year, to remeber God and what He has accomplished for His people.
God’s people, through the way that they dress and adorn their body, are to remember the Lord their God.
When incredible and miraculous things happen, God’s people are often instructed by their leaders to offer a sacrifice or to construct a monument that will help then to ‘remember’.
As Christians, today, do we stop to remember? Or do we sing some songs, praise God for the salvation that we have received, and then go about our business?
As we gather together for worship, what do we remember and how do we remember whomever or whatever it is?
When you try your best but you don’t succeed
When you get what you want but not what you need
When you feel so tired but you can’t sleep
Stuck in reverse.
And the tears come streaming down your face
When you lose something you can’t replace
When you love someone but it goes to waste
Could it be worse?
Lights will guide you home
And ignite your bones
And I will try to fix you
And high up above or down below
When you’re too in love to let it go
But if you never try you’ll never know
Just what you’re worth
Lights will guide you home
And ignite your bones
And I will try to fix you
Tears stream, down your face
When you lose something you cannot replace
Tears stream down your face and I…
Tears stream, down on your face
I promise you I will learn from my mistakes
Tears stream down your face and I…
Lights will guide you home
And ignite your bones
And I will try to fix you.
~Coldplay, “Fix You”
I’ve been spending a lot of time, lately, thinking about our transformation and development as human beings.
Each and every day, I look at pictures of my son. In many respects it seems like we just brought him home from the hospital. Yet, as I watch him play; as I chase him around the house; as I listen to him utter words and phrases- I’m reminded how just how quickly things change. He is no longer a newborn baby. He’s a toddler.
The cute, utter dependency of infancy has given way to the temper tantrums of a toddler.
Such changes are exciting to watch. Yet, many of them are beyond our control. Many of them happen because our bodies have been created in such a way so as to adapt, grow, and change.
God has been really moving in our church.
Recently, we had eleven people take part in a forty-six day discipleship boot camp. God has used this forty-six day project to strip away some of the junk and baggage from the lives of some of the members of our group. Marriages have grown and matured. Sin, which so easily ensnares, has been left behind. People have grown closer to God. We have grown closer as a group.
In many instances where change/transformation took place, the members of our group had known (sometimes for years) that something needed to change. Yet, when they tried to change- they failed.
This time, however, things were different.
Failure became success. Defeat gave way to victory.
Why?
What was different this time around?
On Sunday, during our Easter celebration, we had someone start a relationship with Jesus. We had various others take steps to admit that they had areas of their lives that were not in conformity with God and His will for our lives.
Change needs to take place.
Sin needs to be cast off and abandoned.
Surrender must occur.
But how?
How does one succeed, where countless others have failed?
How does one follow through on a commitment, when previously they have faltered and given up?
I have some thoughts on the subject, but before I share some of what I have been learning and thinking about- I would like to hear your thoughts.
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The word ‘remember’ occurs, in some form, 233 times in the NIV. .jpg)
