Lest We Forget

A few months ago I received an e-mail about a boat adrift on our community lake.  Attached was a photo of a sad looking, yet still floating, vessel desperately in need of love and care. Not being the owner, I paid little heed.  A second notice came informing us that some kind soul had corralled and fastened the boat to one of the docks, but the boat was still waiting to be claimed--would the owners please step forward.  Finally, a third decree arrived issuing a date by which retrieval of the vessel must occur. If left unclaimed, it would be added to the fleet of boats held for use by association members.  Apparently it ended up there. I've thought little about it for several months.  Then I read the book of Hebrews.

Honestly, I read the book of Hebrews for the second time in a row. In a different translation. Because God told me to.  And now I'm thinking about that boat again.  Why?  Because I read Hebrews 2:1 in the New King James Version.  "Therefore we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest we drift away."  Lest we forget to whom we belong.  Lest we forget for what we stand.  Lest we forget to live like it. 

Forgetting is so easy.  We settle in to our relationship with God. We get comfortable, complacent.  And we quickly forget the mire from whence we came.  We forget who we used to be.  We block out the ugly, the mean, the sin. We start to view ourselves as good people, deserving of Heaven, better than we really are. We forget that we are who we are because we have been bought back.  We forget that we are children of God, bought with a price--a staggeringly high price at that. (I Corinthians 7:23)  Remember Calvary?  Remember the pain, the suffering, the thorns? Remember the abandonment of the Father? (Matthew 27:46) Remember that he has realms of angels at his command but he chose to stay?  (Matthew 26:53) Remember it was for you, so you don't have to live in that dark hole of your sin anymore? (Romans 5:8) It's easy to forget, but we are so much better off if we remember.

Remembering helps us not forget for what we stand. It's not easy. Society wants us to forget our standards, our morals, our faith. Society wants us to be like it. Shamelessly drifting, tarnished by willfulness, untethered from our original moorings. Everyone seems to be forging their own path, picking and choosing their favorite bits of Scripture, tossing out those they dislike.  But we must not forget what we stand for and that we take that stance because the one who loves us more than his own Son paid a huge price so we have something truly fulfilling in which to anchor our souls. (Hebrews 6:19)

Remembering helps us live like we know whose child we are. God's children exude different things than those who aren't.  Confidence that we are loved beyond measure radiates from our being. Knowledge that the same measure of love is available for every person makes us treat one another with grace, respect, love. Compassion like Jesus showed the people who so desperately needed him fills our being as we look at the lost society around us. (Matthew 9:36) Our hearts yearn to save them all and we go out of our way to show them that Jesus paid the price for them.  Remembering makes us better neighbors, friends, co-workers.  Remembering makes us whole. (Ephesians 4:20-32)

So look around you.  Do you remember where you are on the big lake we call life?  Are you securely fastened to your original moorings or have the storms of peer pressure, the chanting voices of disillusionment, the flippancy that permeates our culture wreaked havoc on your soul?  Have you drifted?  Have you forgotten that you were bought with a price? (I Corinthians 7:23) Have you managed to mimic Peter--in word or deed? (Luke 22:54-62) Are you still recognizable as God's child? Do you still recognize yourself?

I find great joy that I can type this next sentence--greater joy that it is true.  Even if you don't recognize yourself, God does.  Remember the prodigal son?  (Luke 15:11-32) He had to be a charming bucket of nastiness walking down that road to his father.  Pig swill.  Pig sweat.  Pig stench.  No bath.  It didn't stop the reunion. We are no different.  We drift.  We fail.  We reek of our own willfulness.  But God recognizes us. He claims us, draws us close, cleans us up, and secures the mooring we left behind.  Amazing love. Unfathomable grace. Horrifically undeserving humanity. The scale seems uneven. Yet through the selfless sacrifice of Jesus we receive reconciliation with God and the right to cry "Abba Father." Why would we ever want to drift from that?