How Quickly We Forget

So commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these words of mine. Tie them to your hands and wear them on your forehead as reminders. Teach them to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up.
Deuteronomy 11:18-19 NLT

The past week has been one of remembering for me. Labor Day - originally proclaimed to celebrate the legalization of labor unions and the labor movement. Dad - he'd have turned 99 this week. And tomorrow: 9-11. Seventeen years have passed since America united as a country against the evil atrocities perpetrated against our nation, but how quickly we forget.

We remember those who gave their lives trying to save those who had come under attack. We remember those who spent days and weeks and months trying to dig out from under it all. We remember those who have taken a stand against terrorism and have fought and are fighting for our freedoms. All day tomorrow, there will be conversations that begin with, "I remember what I was doing when I heard..." "I remember I couldn't believe..."

We remember facts, but we don't remember the truths that came of it. What I mean is that when the shock wore off, we were no longer divided across party lines, or state lines, or skin color lines. We were Americans who stood arm in arm and waved our flags, and sang our anthem, and burned candles, and filled all the churches for two whole weeks following 9-11. Oh, the flag waving and anthem singing and burning candles lasted a while longer, but by the third Sunday following 9-11-01, most churches were back to their usual Sunday congregation. And seventeen years later, we're up in arms against each other instead of arm-in-arm with one another. How quickly we forget.

The same happened when Jesus took the bread as recorded in Luke 22:19, and gave thanks, and broke it, and gave unto them, saying, This is My body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of Me. And then later, His body was broken for our sins. We remember the facts, but do we remember the Truth? The atrocities against Him - against God's love personified? Do we remember what it cost Him? He laid His life down for our freedom. He died to save us and to free us from the rubble of our lives.

So many don't remember from seventeen years ago - is it any wonder that 2,000 years later they've forgotten Christ? We MUST remember...

Prayer:

Father,
          Keep the cost of the Cross ever before us, O Lord. Forgive us for taking it lightly, as just a matter of fact. Bind us together by Your love. In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen