Memory, Part 5

I would like this to be my last meditation on the subject of memory. Let us briefly review the ground we have covered. Recall that God has given us an amazing capacity to remember. We remember far more than we realize. God holds us responsible to use this capacity in our relationship with Him. We are commanded to remember God, His works, and His commandments. We must be especially careful not to forget our Lord in times of material prosperity, when we have more things to distract our attention. We have learned that we tend to remember those things that have meaning for us. If something is meaningful enough to us, we will want to remember it. If we want to remember something, we will think of ways to help us remember. And our merciful God has Himself provided us with some props to help us to remember what He requires of us.

In our last meditation I suggested that our capacity to forget can actually be helpful in remembering. Here is another quote from More Than Meets the Eyes by Richard A. Swenson, M.D.:

As important as memory is for our day-to-day functioning, selective and appropriate forgetting is likewise important for our day-to-day emotional health...When the ancient Greek Simonides offered to teach Themistocles the art of memory, he refused. “Teach me not the art of remembering,” he said, “but the art of forgetting, for I remember things I do not wish to remember, but I cannot forget things I wish to forget.”
“In the practical use of our intellect, forgetting is as important a function as remembering,” said William James. “If we remembered everything, we should on most occasions be as ill off as if we remembered nothing.”

If the mind is overtaxed with information, we will be more prone to forget things we need to remember. So we need to sort out information that needs to be remembered from information that does not need to be remembered. In other words, we need to establish priorities in the area of memory, just as we do in everything else. Establishing priorities helps you decide what you must leave off when two things are competing for your attention at the same time. Priorities help you to discern between what needs to be remembered and what is best forgotten. Setting priorities means that you learn to say "no" to certain things that would encroach upon your priorities. Having priorities means that you will not always be available for everybody and everything that would demand your time and attention. Observe how our Lord did not let men keep Him from fulfilling His priorities.

Luke 4:42 And when it was day, he departed and went into a desert place: and the people sought him, and came unto him, and stayed him, that he should not depart from them.
43 And he said unto them, I must preach the kingdom of God to other cities also: for therefore am I sent.

Along the line of priorities, the following is an interesting quote from the writings of Bishop Fulton J. Sheen:

The busy man, being used to doing things, is never taken by surprise by a request. His secret of getting anything done is to know what to leave undone. The busier one becomes, the more he has to build a pyramid of priorities, deciding that the unimportant will give way to the important. The son of Confucius once said to him: “I apply myself with diligence to every kind of study, neglect nothing that could render me clever and brilliant; but I do not advance.” “Omit some of your pursuits,” replied Confucius, “and you will get on better.”

By establishing priorities and not trying to do everything, you will free up mental energy required to remember the things that you need to remember. In fact, I have read that studies indicate that people who watch less television actually have better memories. You see, they are not cluttering their minds with the useless garbage that television is so full of! We all need to look for things to eliminate so that our minds and memories are not overtaxed. By finding things to forget, we will have more energy left to remember.

But does Scripture teach the usefulness of forgetting some things? Indeed, it does. Let’s read the words of our pattern in Christian conduct, the apostle Paul himself.

Philippians 3:13 Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,
14 I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

Paul was so focused on the prize that he forgot anything that hindered his reaching forth unto it. Now this does not require us to forget everything in the past. In this very chapter of Philippians Paul recalled his past in the Jewish religion before his conversion to Christ. We should certainly not forget God's blessings in the past.

Psalms 103:2 Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits.

Nor should we forget God’s dealings with us for our past sins.

Deuteronomy 9:6 Understand therefore, that the LORD thy God giveth thee not this good land to possess it for thy righteousness; for thou art a stiffnecked people.
7 Remember, and forget not, how thou provokedst the LORD thy God to wrath in the wilderness: from the day that thou didst depart out of the land of Egypt, until ye came unto this place, ye have been rebellious against the LORD.

The forgetting Paul is teaching us about is like that of Joseph when he forgot all his toil and all his father's house while he was in Egypt.

Genesis 41:51 And Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh: For God, said he, hath made me forget all my toil, and all my father's house.

Now Joseph certainly knew his past and his family for he mentioned them in saying he had forgotten them. But he put them behind him and got on with his life. He did not dwell on them. Paul is teaching us not to hold on to or dwell on anything that would distract us from our main goal and hinder our progress. For example, don't get stuck in the sins of the past. Learn from God’s dealings with you because of them. Let them humble you. But accept God's forgiveness for them and move ahead. Don't let past failed relationships or past hurts hinder your growth by dwelling on them. Forgive those who have wronged you and move ahead. Don’t get stuck in the tragedies and sorrows of the past. Better things are ahead of us. Press forward to them. Don't dwell on your losses for Christ. Esteem them but dung and move ahead to better things just as Paul did. And don't be always dwelling upon your past acts of obedience. You are not done yet with obeying God. Move ahead in further obedience. All this unnecessary dwelling on the past consumes mental energy and leaves your mind less energy for remembering what God requires you to remember.

Another way to improve your memory is by learning to delegate. Anyone who tries to do everything himself will only wear himself out, including his ability to remember. Moses tried that one time. He was doing all the judging of the causes of the people himself and his father-in-law wisely rebuked him for it.

Exodus 18:17 And Moses' father in law said unto him, The thing that thou doest is not good.
18 Thou wilt surely wear away, both thou, and this people that is with thee: for this thing is too heavy for thee; thou art not able to perform it thyself alone.

Moses’ father in law then instructed Moses to delegate lesser matters of judgment to other capable men while reserving the hard matters for himself. We also have the example of the apostles who delegated the care of the church widows to deacons so that they could give themselves “continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the word” (ACT 6:1-6). In this case they did not let matters of lesser importance interfere with matters of greater importance. In other words, they established priorities. And in keeping with those priorities they delegated responsibility. So by means of prioritizing we either eliminate things or delegate them to others so that our minds and memories are not overtaxed.

I trust this study has been helpful. There is a wealth of sites on the internet that give tips for improving memory. One article I found that I liked is entitled: Improving Your Memory: Tips and Techniques for Memory Enhancement. This article can be found by going to www.helpguide.org and typing in the title. God grant us all grace to remember Him, His works, and His commandments first and foremost. By God’s mercy I am yours in the remembrance of Him.

Memory, Part 4

I am not finished with the subject of memory. Recall that meaning is tied to memory. We remember those things that mean the most to us. We will remember God, His works, His commandments, and His house, if they mean to us what they should. We also noted that memory is a matter of will. You have to want to remember. If something is really important to you, the odds are greater that you will want to remember it. And if you want to remember, you will find ways to help you remember.

We are all aware that we can be forgetful. Actually, the capacity to forget can be helpful in improving our memory. I know that may sound strange, but it is so. God willing, we’ll consider that later. Don’t you love it, when I keep you in suspense like that? Perhaps, I should take up writing soap operas. Coming back to the point, we can be forgetful when it is necessary to remember. And that can get us into trouble with God and with men. So how can we improve our memory?

First of all, our merciful God has provided us with helps or props to aid us in remembering what we should. As we have noted in previous meditations, God requires us to remember His works and His commandments. To help us do this, He has preserved the record of those works and commandments in His written word so that His written record becomes for us a memorial, something to remind us as in the following example.

Exodus 17:13 And Joshua discomfited Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword.
14 And the LORD said unto Moses, Write this for a memorial in a book, and rehearse it in the ears of Joshua: for I will utterly put out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven.

The apostle Peter wrote his two epistles for the purpose of helping us to remember.

2 Peter 3:1 This second epistle, beloved, I now write unto you; in both which I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance:

Therefore, by reading the Scriptures we remember what God has done and what He has commanded.

Let us briefly consider the props that God gave to the nation of Israel to help them remember. God gave them the ordinance of the Passover so that they would not forget their deliverance from Egyptian bondage.

Deuteronomy 16:1 Observe the month of Abib, and keep the passover unto the LORD thy God: for in the month of Abib the LORD thy God brought thee forth out of Egypt by night.
2 Thou shalt therefore sacrifice the passover unto the LORD thy God, of the flock and the herd, in the place which the LORD shall choose to place his name there.
3 Thou shalt eat no leavened bread with it; seven days shalt thou eat unleavened bread therewith, even the bread of affliction; for thou camest forth out of the land of Egypt in haste: that thou mayest remember the day when thou camest forth out of the land of Egypt all the days of thy life.

Then consider this interesting custom in clothing that God ordained to help the Israelites remember His commandments.

Numbers 15:37 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
38 Speak unto the children of Israel, and bid them that they make them fringes in the borders of their garments throughout their generations, and that they put upon the fringe of the borders a ribband of blue:
39 And it shall be unto you for a fringe, that ye may look upon it, and remember all the commandments of the LORD, and do them; and that ye seek not after your own heart and your own eyes, after which ye use to go a whoring:
40 That ye may remember, and do all my commandments, and be holy unto your God.

It appears that the good Lord knows we need help in remembering.

Now let’s turn to the New Testament under which we live. We have already noted in a previous meditation that our Lord gave us the ordinance of the Lord’s Supper to help us remember the gospel of His death for our sins. Our Lord said, “This do in remembrance of me.” God also gives us pastors and teachers to help us remember what we He requires of us. We know that Timothy was a teacher of the word. He worked with Paul in his preaching ministry. Once Paul sent him to Corinth expressly for the purpose of helping the Corinthians remember Paul’s teaching.

1 Corinthians 4:17 For this cause have I sent unto you Timotheus, who is my beloved son, and faithful in the Lord, who shall bring you into remembrance of my ways which be in Christ, as I teach every where in every church.

Recall that Paul is especially our apostle. We are to follow him as he followed Christ.

1 Corinthians 11:1 Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ.

2 Now I praise you, brethren, that ye remember me in all things, and keep the ordinances, as I delivered them to you.

My job as your pastor and teacher is to bring Paul’s teachings to your remembrance so that you can follow him.

1 Timothy 4:6 If thou put the brethren in remembrance of these things, thou shalt be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine, whereunto thou hast attained.

You attend to my ministry both to learn and to be reminded. God gave me as a prop for your memory. How am I doing?

Recall that I said that if you really want to remember something, you will find ways to remember. Our memories need help, especially when we have so much to remember. God knows this and He has given us the amazing capacity of creativity, the ability to invent ways to help ourselves do what we need to do, including remembering. Let me relate to you how I help myself remember things.

First of all, I have learned not to depend solely on my memory! I have a system of props to remind me. I have a month-at-a-glance calendar and a tablet of paper both of which are inserted in a leather binder. I purchase these from Day-Timers. And this is not a sales pitch for their products. I refer to this leather binder as my portable brain. I record all my appointments on the calendar. The tablet is used to help me remember things at church. On the tablet I make lists of things I need to announce at church, people I need to see, etc. I also write down either on the calendar or on the tablet things people tell me that I need to remember. In this binder I also keep the church directory so that I have needed addresses and phone numbers with me. I take this binder with me to church, on trips, and on appointments. In my office I have a folder with 31 dividers, one for each day of the month. When you have a printer, you end up with lots of used paper with a clean side. I divide up that paper into smaller pieces of paper that I use to make notes on. For example, someone may phone me and tell me when they are having a medical procedure. I write down the name of that person and the day of the procedure on one of those pieces paper and then I file that note in the respective divider for that day. Each day I pull out the notes that are filed in the divider for that day. When the day of the person’s medical procedure comes around, I pull out the note that I previously wrote to remind me of that procedure and filed for that day. And, behold! I have remembered! But not without help, you see. I also transfer notes from by Daytimer into this folder in case I forget to look in my Daytimer. So one memory prop has a backup of another memory prop. Sounds pitiful, doesn’t it? But it works! If you have a tendency to get sidetracked and to forget, a system like this can be very helpful to keep you on track. For example, if you are trying to cultivate a friendship with someone, you might write yourself a note to phone that person on a given day. File that note on that day. Then when you pull out the notes for that day, you will have your reminder to make the call. This can also be used to help you remember things like your wife’s birthday or your anniversary or other things you might be expected to remember.

Of course, there are legions of methods for helping to remember. My daughter sometimes makes prayer lists and sticks them on her refrigerator to help her remember for whom she needs to pray. Matt Ruma recently spoke of electronic devices that help one to remember. Perhaps you could post notes in the middle of your bathroom mirror. You are sure to see them there. You have to find what works best for you and do it. And, here’s the trick, remember to do it!!!

This meditation has been a bit longer, but I trust it has been helpful. God help us all to remember what we need to remember in our relationship with Him and with others. I sign off today as one helping you to remember.

Memory, Part 3

In this week’s meditation I would like to continue with the subject of the memory. Remember that God has given you a wonderful capacity to remember. You actually remember far more than you realize. Therefore, you are capable of remembering more that you may want to admit. After all, being able to say, “I forgot,” does provide a convenient excuse at times. And, to be sure, we all do forget. But oftentimes forgetting is more a matter of will than a matter of weakness, as we shall further demonstrate. For this reason, God holds us responsible to remember Him, His works, His commandments, and His house. And He does not let us off the hook because we forgot. In fact, God punishes those who forget what He commands them to remember.

Deuteronomy 8:19 And it shall be, if thou do at all forget the LORD thy God, and walk after other gods, and serve them, and worship them, I testify against you this day that ye shall surely perish.

Hosea 4:6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.

Seeing that memory figures so importantly in our relationship with God, how then can we improve our memory? In his book, Dr. Richard A. Swenson makes this interesting comment: “The amount of effort we put into learning is not necessarily the most important thing. It turns out that meaning is as important to memory as intention.” You remember those things that mean the most to you. Do you have any trouble remembering the family and friends you love most? Or the experiences you most enjoyed? You can be assured that remembering my grandchildren is quite easy. Why? Because they mean so much to me! They are very much in my affections and thoughts. My wife and I speak often of them. Or turn it around. If someone forgets something that you expect them to remember, then how do you sometimes interpret their forgetfulness? Don’t you sometimes feel that you must not mean that much to them? Otherwise, they would have remembered. It appears we all understand the importance of meaning to memory.

Now this brings us to the heart of the matter. Perhaps you forget God, His works, His commandments, or His house because they do not mean to you what they should. Perhaps they are too far down on your list of priorities. Can you remember what you read in a novel, but not what you read in your Bible? Can you remember the content of a stirring political speech, but not the content of a stirring sermon? Do you remember when your favourite television show is on, but yet you sometimes forget when it’s communion Sunday? You will remember those things and events that your heart is most set upon because of how much they mean to you.

You do not have any trouble remembering things that brought you great pleasure, do you? Things that bring you great pleasure mean a lot to you. If you delight in something, the odds are greater that you will remember it. Now connect this thought with this verse:

Psalms 119:16 I will delight myself in thy statutes: I will not forget thy word.

The Psalmist resolves that he will not forget God’s word. For him, memory was a matter of the will: “I will not forget.” But connected with his resolve was His delight in God’s word. Look at the definition of that word delight.

Delight – To be highly pleased, take great pleasure, rejoice in or to do (anything).

The more you take pleasure in learning and obeying God’s word, the more you are going to remember it. For things that highly please you are more meaningful to you.

In connection with this let us recall the words of our Lord Jesus Christ:

Mark 12:29 And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord:
30 And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.

Whatever we love with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength will certainly mean a great deal to us. And the chances are great we will not forget it. So if we would improve our memory with respect to our relationship with God, we need to grow in our love for God. Give Him the first place in your heart, your affections, your thoughts, and your desires. Take some time to consider just how important Almighty God is to you. It is He that made everything and that made you. Without Him you would not be. He it is that preserves you. Otherwise, you would cease to be. It is He that loved you and gave His only begotten Son to save your soul by suffering what you deserved because of your sin and rebellion. Otherwise, you would have been ruined forever. No one could love you as much or do as much for you as your God. Doesn’t He deserve to be loved first and best and to be remembered above all? Consider this verse:

Romans 11:36 For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.

All things originate, continue, and end with God. How foolish it is then, that things should crowd God out of our memory. Rather, they should serve to keep Him ever in our memory.

Taking time to give God the kind of consideration I am recommending will serve to make you love Him more. And the more you love Him, the more inclined you will be to remember Him, because He will mean so much to you. The consideration of God will spur you to remember His commandments to do them.

Deuteronomy 4:39 Know therefore this day, and consider it in thine heart, that the LORD he is God in heaven above, and upon the earth beneath: there is none else.
40 Thou shalt keep therefore his statutes, and his commandments, which I command thee this day, that it may go well with thee, and with thy children after thee, and that thou mayest prolong thy days upon the earth, which the LORD thy God giveth thee, for ever.

I mentioned above that forgetting is often more a matter of will than of weakness. If you don’t want to forget something, you have to want to remember it. This verse speaks plainly to this point:

Isaiah 26:8 Yea, in the way of thy judgments, O LORD, have we waited for thee; the desire of our soul is to thy name, and to the remembrance of thee.

When we speak of desire we are talking about a strong wish, longing, craving for something. This is something we very much want. Enter the will. The will is defined as desire, wish, longing. Do you desire to remember God? If you really want to remember Him, His works, and His commandments, then you will think of ways to do it. It is amazing what people can accomplish when they want to.

God willing, I shall have more to say about memory. For now I close with this advice addressed to your will:

Psalms 31:23 O love the LORD, all ye his saints.

If you truly love Him, you will not forget Him.

Memory, Part 2

I wish to take up again the subject of memory. To further drive home the point of the wonder of the brain that God has created and given to us, consider this quote by Dr. Richard Swenson in his book More Than Meets the Eyes:

Our three-pound brain is the most complex arrangement of matter ever discovered in the universe. It contains ten billion neurons (possibly ten times as many) and has 100 trillion neurological interconnections that if stretched out would extend 100 thousand miles. The brain fires at a rate of a thousand-trillion computations per second and can hold information equivalent to that contained in twenty-five million books. From Einstein to savants, we are known for prodigious feats of memory. Each of us carries around a mental videotape cassette containing three trillion pictures. We are the only species with the gift of language, and are capable of thinking at a rate of 800 words per minute, and have use and recognition vocabularies of ten thousand and forty thousand words, respectively.

I emphasize again that we have an amazing capacity for memory. We focus so much on what we don’t remember that we are not aware of how much we do remember. If you doubt this, just think of a few of the many things you wish you could forget and cannot.

Recall that God requires that we use this wonderful capacity of memory in serving Him. We are straightly instructed to remember the Lord our God and not to forget Him. As we learned from DEU 8, we are especially warned against forgetting God in the midst of material prosperity. Our Lord knows how easily we can get so caught up in the pursuit of things, that we forget the Giver of all things.

Let’s consider some other passages of Scripture that deal with the subject of memory.

Psalms 103:17 But the mercy of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him, and his righteousness unto children's children;
18 To such as keep his covenant, and to those that remember his commandments to do them.

God’s mercy is upon “those that remember his commandments to do them.” Now don’t you want the mercy of God to be upon you? Then I suggest you work on your memory of what He tells you to do. When you find yourself tempted to blow up at somebody, do you remember what God says about anger? What He says to do about it? When you have a grudge against someone, do you remember what God commands you to do about that? God does not consider that you remember His commandments as you ought, if you just remember what the commandments say. You must remember the commandment to do them. If you just hear the commandment, but you do not do it, you are called in Scripture “a forgetful hearer” (JAM 1:25). If you remember His commandments to do them, then you will discover God’s everlasting mercy upon you.

Bear in the mind that the blessed gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ is not going to benefit you as it should if you do not keep it in memory.

1 Corinthians 15:1 ¶Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand;
2 By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.

What good does the gospel do you, if you forget about it? Your mind should recall the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ died for your sins, was buried, and rose again the third day all according to the Scriptures, and that He was seen of eyewitnesses? This is the greatest event in all of history. You would perish forever had not this event taken place. Nothing more important could have happened to you than this. This event gives you hope in the face of death. This event should define the life you live now. And, yet, how often does it even cross your mind? When was the last time you thanked God for it? To help us remember the gospel, our Lord Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper.

1 Corinthians 11:24 And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me.
25 After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me.

It is absolutely sinful to take the bread and the cup during that supper and think about things other than what our Lord commanded us to remember. It is forgetting at a time when we are expressly commanded to remember!

Recall that Jerusalem was the city of the house of God in the Old Testament. In the New Testament, the local church is the house of God for us (1TI 3:15). So apply the following verse to your church.

Psalms 137:5 If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning.
6 If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth; if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy.

When the Psalmist wrote these words, he was in exile by the rivers of Babylon. He was missing the house of God and thinking about it. Now consider the words that I have cited. Where would you be professionally if your right hand forgot its skills and your tongue was glued to the roof of your mouth? Is your love for the church of God so great that you would want to lose your professional skills if you forgot God’s house and if you did not prefer it above the thing you enjoy most? Do you prefer God’s house above sports, shopping, parties, travel, movies, music, art, sex, etc.? And just how often do you think of your church? Do you remember it? Do you pray for it? Or is it out of sight, out of mind?

Let the questions I have raised search your heart. God willing, I shall have more to say about memory in a coming meditation. The first step in solving any problem is awareness of the problem. If you are convicted that your have not remembered your Lord as you should, you are on the way to recovery. By God’s mercy I am one who is reminding you.