Where Did I Put My Keys

I’ve always heard it said that one sign of getting old was that you started forgetting things. Well if that is the case, I must be getting right on up there with Methuselah, Enos and Mahalalel. It was just the other day that I got up from my desk at work, went to the soda machine, inserted money, pushed the proper button for a Diet Coke, and while I was waiting for the beverage to drop I forgot why I was standing there.

I kid myself, of course, I am not quite that forgetful. However, I did have that briefest of brain lag where I could totally imagine myself staring off into space and walking off leaving my ice cold refreshment sitting in the bottom of the machine. I am terrible at remembering dates, names, and other information that some people can recall on a whim. My daughter, for instance, has this “Rainman” like quality when it comes to remembering birthdays. She can tell you the birthday of just about everyone she has ever met. But she does inherit from me some of my memory traits and can never find her keys.

God’s Memory Is Greater Than Ours

As I stood here wondering what it was that I was supposed to be doing at this time, it occurred to me that I am glad that God does not possess the same memory characteristics that I do. My wife often accuses me of having selective memory, in other words, I remember what I want to remember. I guess that is true for all of us, we remember what we want to.

Thankfully for us, God doesn’t have the same type of memory problems as we do. He doesn’t forget us, no matter how far we have gone or how long it has been since we had contact with Him. One of my favorite of the many parables that Jesus told is that of the prodigal son.

²⁰ And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. Luke 15:20 ESV

God doesn’t forget us, He is always waiting for us to return. And when we do return He greets us with compassion, with open arms, ready to accept us back into His arms. What a wonderful picture of the love of God. He is waiting, watching for us, and runs to us when we return to Him. There is a song by Phillips, Craig, and Dean that I have always enjoyed because it paints this picture so well.

He Ran To Me

Was when He ran to me, He took me in His arms
Held my head to His chest, said “My son’s come home again”
Lifted my face, wiped the tears from my eyes
With forgiveness in His voice He said,
“Son do you know I still love you?”
He caught me by surprise when God ran.

This picture of God running to me, excited to have me back in his presence, puts a smile on my face. All too often as humans we tend to focus on the negative aspects of the lives of those around us. We focus on the faults of others like we are looking through a microscope at a slide of some deadly virus. We can’t look past the sins.

Maybe God does have selective memory too, but unlike my selective memory, God remembers the good in us. He doesn’t hold our faults and our sins against us. He never forgets us no matter how far we stray. He is always watching in anticipation for that moment when He can run to us and scoop us up in His arms and say “I still love you.”

Do you suffer from selective memory?

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