To Encourage You

Hebrews 12:5 “And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons?”

One of the biggest problems we face as human beings is our forgetfulness.  It can be so frustrating when we forget where we last placed our car keys. I recently lost one of my favorite jackets. I forgot it somewhere, and I’ve pretty much given up on it at this point!  I just can’t remember what I did with it!  As we get older the problem seems to inevitably get worse and some, unfortunately, are afflicted by the severe forgetfulness we call dementia. 

I read somewhere that when a person hears a sermon, most of it is forgotten in a very short time.  I have that problem with reading. I’ve read entire books that I’ve forgotten that I read. I’ve started to write the date that I read them inside the front cover – it’s gotten that bad!  I’m sure you’ve noticed how the commercials we see on TV are repeated over and over again, often multiple times within the same TV program.  Advertisers are intent on pounding their messages into our heads. They use repetition to fight against our forgetfulness.  It’s a part of human nature, this tendency to forget.  And that applies to the Word of God as well. 

We see this in the verse above where the writer tells his readers that there are some very important things that they have forgotten. He’s referring to the words from God with which He has addressed His own sons and daughters.  That’s why we need to keep our nose in the Book. We need to constantly be reminded of the things He has said. 

In 2 Peter 1, the apostle Peter is writing to Christians about the qualities they should seek in their Christian growth.  He talks about things like faith, virtue, knowledge, self-control, steadfastness, godliness, brotherly affection, and love. He tells them that “if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”  These are qualities that are spoken about repeatedly in the Word of God. Yet, Peter continues to remind believers of their importance. And then he says this: “Therefore I intend always to remind you of these qualities, though you know them and are established in the truth that you have. I think it right, as long as I am in this body, to stir you up by way of reminder, since I know that the putting off of my body will be soon, as our Lord Jesus Christ made clear to me. And I will make every effort so that after my departure you may be able at any time to recall these things.” 

You see, Peter is saying these things to us. He is telling us that the things he wrote were given to us so that after he was no longer with us, we would still have his words to remind us of the wonderful truths of God.  That’s the way it is with every writer of the Scriptures. That’s why God directed them to tell us the things they did. It was to teach us, remind us, and remind us again of the exhortations God has for us as His sons and daughters. They are the things we need to hear over and over again!

One of the things I’ve noticed as I’ve studied the Bible over the years is how much it has to say about every important issue of life.  It comes at the same things over and over again, from many angles, with many illustrations, from one writer after another, from the beginning of God’s wonderful book to the end.  It reminds us in every conceivable way that we should “Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man” (Ecclesiastes 12:9-14).  But do we remember this? Probably not!  In so many ways it can just slip our minds!  And so God would have us to set our minds on remembering.  May we keep reading and meditating on His Word, and thereby may He keep us from forgetting the most important things that have ever been said, i.e., the infinite wisdom and life-giving Truth that have come from the mouth of God.