Remembering for the Future

What are the things that cause us to remember? sounds, smells, tastes. The use of our senses can trigger our memory and in turn our emotions. We can remember people vividly from songs that we hear, a smell can remind us of a special place or person and often the sensory experience will be accompanied by feelings of security or anxiety depending upon our association with the smell, sound, taste or whatever. As we enter this month of remembrance, we think of those who have gone before us. We reflect on the year we have just lived through and we look to the future. Have we learned from the example of people who have gone before us, and have we learned from the mistakes of past generations. What have we learned from our own lives over this last year, what should we give thanks for, and what will we look forward to in the coming year? Looking forward, do we remember God’s promises to us, His promises of a hope and a future. His promise to prepare a place for us? Do we take the victory that Jesus won to be a promise of the future? Do we remember the future? Do we remember that God will not forsake us or leave us like orphans, that our names are engraved on the palms of the fathers hands, and engraved with scars in the saviours hands. Talking of the future, Billy Graham said, “I’ve read the last page of the Bible. It’s all going to turn out all right.” do we forget that the battle has already been won, that the wining side is the side with Jesus as King. In our prayers this month we consider the memory of those who have gone before, of those faithful saints who have guided us on our way, of those who fell to guarantee our future. We remember also the future, and God’s promises to us. We ‘Remember the Fallen’ in week one, remembering those who fell in conflict to protect our freedom, those who pay the ultimate sacrifice to bring justice and peace. Week two we ‘Remember the Saints’, reflecting on our own experience of those who guided us to the saviour and also considering the ‘heroes of the faith’ in Hebrews 11. We ‘Remember the Promises’ of God in week three that God has a plan and has not left us in a hopeless state. We ‘Remember the Future’ in week four, that the battle is won, that we can be sure that Jesus’ work of salvation is complete in him rising from the dead and that our hope in him is sure and certain.