When I think back on my life I have so many great memories. Most of those wonderful memories were had with some very special people in my life: my parents, my sister, childhood friends, my wife, my children, and so many brothers and sisters in Christ.
But as we all know, life is not filled with just good memories. We all have memories from our past that we wish we could just simply forget. Along with all the good memories from my life there has also been a lot of pain, sorrow, sadness, and loss. There has been guilt and regret because of the numerous times that I chose sin over God. There have been so many memories that I wish were not part of my past, but the truth is, they are.
Life is filled with good and bad memories, and there are so many lesson we all can learn from the things in our past.
In Deuteronomy 8 we can read about the children of Israel. They definitely had a past and they had many things they needed to remember. In Deuteronomy 8 the children of Israel were told multiple times to remember God and His Word. They were to continue showing their remembrance through their obedience to what God had told them to do. They had been through a lot. They had suffered, they had been disobedient, they had been rescued, and they had been continual cared for by God. The children of Israel had a lot of memories, some good and some bad. But they had the same opportunity that each of us have today, to obey God.
The good and bad memories from our past can be used to help us in the future. In 1 Timothy 1:12-17 we see that Paul recognized the evil that had been part of his life, but we also see that he grabbed hold of the salvation that was offered through Jesus Christ. Let us all use our memories to motivate us to faithful living and make new memories of service to our God.
Derek Broome