Remember

Remember

The grass withers and the flower fades. But the word of the LORD remains forever. 1 Peter 1:24-25

REMEMBER. That word represents a crucial foundation for faith. Through Isaiah, God told his people to remember the rock they were cut from—their ancestor Abraham, the promises God had given him, and the faith he lived by. Through psalmists and chroniclers, Israel was reminded again and again of the miracles God had employed to deliver them from Egypt, lead them victoriously into the Promised Land, and build their kingdom generation after generation. Through the writer to the Hebrews, Jewish believers in Jesus were reminded to look over their history and consider how faith had always involved patience and endurance. God’s people have always been told to remember his works, his promises, and his faithfulness. Why this emphasis on remembering? Because if we don’t remember, we have little to base our faith on. We need to look to the future with an eye on what God has already done.

Peter told his readers that their new life would last forever because it was based on God’s Word, which unlike the grass and flowers will never fade away. Modern Christians often read promises about “new life” in terms of a salvation experience that gets us to heaven, but those promises involve an entirely new, holistic way of living—a new mode of existence, the way life plays out here and now, the dynamics of things like faith, patience, godliness, wisdom, power, and love in this age. The gospel of the Kingdom includes everything we need from God and all his purposes for us. Anything he says relating to Kingdom life and any promises he has made don’t expire. The promises he gave the disciples are good today. The words inspired through the prophets have forever applications. The mission Jesus declared in Nazareth is still true. The “good news that was preached” to us (verse 25) covers a lot of territory.

Don’t narrow God’s words about salvation, eternity, faith, his mighty works, or anything else to a particular era, a specific sphere of life, or a certain kind of people. His words reveal his character, and his character applies always. His promises show us his purposes, and his purposes are still playing out. The stronger we want to believe, the more we will need to remember.

People need to be reminded more often than they need to be instructed.