To Know & Remember

 

We have four grandchildren – three granddaughters and our fourth, a grandson. I had the privilege of watching my first three granddaughters while their parents worked. This meant they were with me at least four days a week. It also meant they came to know me.

It will be different with my grandson as they have moved away and we won’t get to see him as often. So on our recent family vacation, I went with one goal and that was for him to come to know me. Or at best, recognize my face before the dreaded stage comes of fearing strangers.

Every chance to hold him, feed him, change him, play with him, or just talk to him was an opportunity for him to come to know me.

Don’t get me wrong. I know full well with just a few days apart, he will forget my face. But the effort was necessary from my perspective, for my heart.

Now home, I am wondering if he will remember me when we are together again. Sitting in the stillness of the morning, the question stirs my soul.

“Do you know and remember Me each day?”

“For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer,
he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror;
for once he has looked at himself and gone away,
he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was.
But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it,
not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer,
this man will be blessed in what he does.”
(James 1:23-25, NASB)

Much the way we look in a mirror to check our appearance, as we look into the mirror of God’s Word we are best able to see ourselves as we truly are.

Hearing the Word is not enough as we are to be doers. Sitting in church and hearing a sermon or participating in a Bible Study is for naught if we do not apply what we have heard. Just hearing the Word will not cause growth in our lives if we are not actively applying and obeying the Word.

Let’s not fool ourselves into thinking we are remembering all God says. May we not let sermons go in one ear and out the other. Let’s become good listeners, retaining that which we have heard, so that we can act upon it.

Much the way I wanted my grandson to see me and interact with me often so that he would remember me, it is the same way with reading Scripture.

Looking into God’s Word on a daily basis
will enable us to remember His Word and
respond to life rightly and justly.

 

 

Reflection:
How can you become more attentive to God’s Word? How do you remember Scripture more actively?

 

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