In Remembrance

I love how God does things. All throughout the Old Testamant, he directs his people back to their deliverance from slavery and he makes this the basis for their obedience. "You have been shown mercy, go and be merciful." Isn't that the way we work? How much quicker are we to forgive after we've been forgiven? The key to the Christian life is understanding how deserving of God's wrath we are and how freely we have been forgiven. And I think that's why Paul, after eleven chapters of soteriology, writes "...by the mercies of God, present your bodies as living sacrifices." The cross is not one big guilt trip: "You better be obedient...Christ died for you." Instead, it should be a springboard of praise and joyful obedience in response to such love. Throughout the Old Testament, remembring God's faithfulness and kindness is a major theme. God has delivered us from many things in our lives that we should record, as Moses does the Pentateuch. But ultimately, we should put every effort into remembering moment by moment what has been done for us on the cross in light of our still sinful condition. As we grow in our walk with Christ, we will discover that God is holier than we could ever imagine and that our sin is more atrocious that we could ever know. But instead of disparing, we should fix our eyes on the cross and dwell on the magnificence of his "glorious grace." If we dwell there, we will find that no sin against us is ever impossible to forgive and no kindness is ever too great to bestow. We would be a more loving, more thankful, and more serving people. And I pray that it would start with me.