In about 10 days my wife and I will begin traveling to our latest adventure in our life. Actually we have been pretty involved in the beginnings of it already, but our move to work with a new congregation in California is coming very quickly.

I mentioned in the past that we are now in the process of visiting with some of the congregations with which we have worked and saying our "Good Byes". Yesterday we visited with the church in Portland, Indiana. I preached and the church had a special "Carry-in Meal" so we could spend some time visiting with old friends. It was a special time for us as we remembered times gone by and people who have left this earth and are now with our God.

At one point I got to visit a little with Kermit, a retired Highway Patrol officer. He asked me, "Do you remember that time you went with me to Bud Bailey's farm to pick up a Holstein calf?"  I said, "No, I don't remember that right now." He then proceeded to tell me some of the details. He said, "We didn't have a truck, so I drove out my station wagon and we loaded the calf into the back seat. You climbed in the seat while I drove us back to my home." He said, "You fought with the calf the whole way back home trying to keep it calm and in the back seat." I told Kermit, "I really don't remember that incident, but it sounds exactly like something I would have done when I was younger!"

You would think that doing something like that would make a memory that you wouldn't forget, wouldn't you? If I could remember all of the strange situations I had gotten myself into during my lifetime, I probably would be amazed at my own lack of good judgment. But it seems I have the ability to forget things which at the time they happened, I thought I would remember always.

That's a great weakness we have as humans isn't it? We tend to forget, even important things, far too quickly. I guess some of those things we forget are not all that important anyway, but some of them are, aren't they. Some of us really need to remember the things we have forgotten, especially when it comes to our relationship to God.

Some of you reading this are barely holding on to a relationship with our God. God hasn't changed or moved from the relationship, but somehow you have let the importance of that relationship fade from your memory. I know that you thought that could never happen, but somehow it has and it is time to correct that situation.

If that is where you are at in your life, you are not alone and it is time to remember the things you have forgotten. The apostle John recorded this message from God to some Christian folks in the same situation. Notice what God had to say, "To the angel of the church in Sardis write: These are the words of him who holds the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead. Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your deeds complete in the sight of my God. Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; obey it, and repent. But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come to you," (Revelation 3:1-3, NIV).

Then again in Revelation 2:3-5 God has a message for the church at Ephesus, notice his warning: "You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary. Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love. Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place."

The question then is this: Is there something you have forgotten, that you really need to remember, maybe something of great importance? Is there a possibility that you have forgotten how sweet it is to walk with the Lord? God warned these two churches to "remember" the relationship they once had. They thought they still had a good relationship, but God said it was not so. God said, "for I have not found your deeds complete in the sight of my God. Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; obey it, and repent."

So how are you doing remembering the really, really important things, what God asks of you in your life?

Russ Lawson, Messages From The Heart

Messages from the Heart is sent several times each week written by Russ Lawson.

Books by Russ Lawson

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