The Past

It is common for people to look to the past as better than today. They feel that in the past people behaved better and were more civil and more Christian.

You see we often see the problems of our day but fail to see the problems of other days. It is not as if past ages don't have problems. Their problems are simply different than ours.

You see it is very common to miss remember the past. Or to glorify the good times which were not so glorious.

As our memories of things fade we often forget many of the hard things about the past and remember the good. It is not always the case.

If you look at politics, history, our past, and even theological history you see a trend where the past often gets placed in a rosier light than it was.

Nothing is new under the sun. Mankind is mankind under sin in every age.

He expresses his sin similarly in each age with particular vices he favors. But man is the same. He is born with a bad heart in every age.

It is only when he looks to Jesus in faith that his heart of stone is turned to a heart of flesh.

John Piper Quote on the Important of Memory

A bit from John Piper:

You may remember the story of the Texas Revolution. In December 1835 the Texas revolutionaries took the town of San Antonio. The fortress there was called the Alamo and was guarded by 150 men when Santa Anna, with Mexican forces came against the town on February 26 the next year. With 32 reinforcements the Texans held off the enemy until March 6 when the siege ended in bloody hand to hand combat and every Texan was dead including Jim Bowie and Davy Crocket.

The courage of the Texans inspired the rest of the resistance and six weeks later at San Jacinto the Texans defeated the Mexicans under the awe-inspiring cry, "Remember the Alamo!"

Why remember the Alamo? Because the past exerts power in the present through the gift of memory. Memory is power. The person who says that history is bunk, or that the past is gone and all that matters is the present, just doesn't know much about real life. In real life memory has tremendous power to inspire and guide.

When God says, "Remember the law!" I think it out to ring in our ears the same way "Rember the Alamo!" rang in the ears of the Texas Revolutionaries. It means, "Don't forget what happened at Horeb! How I brought you on eagle's wings out of Egypt! How I came down with power and glory on Mt. Horeb, and revealed my love and holiness, and made a covenant with you of all the peoples on the earth, and taught you the way of life and everlasting joy with good commandments and wise statutes and ordinances only for your good!"