Today’s 333 Devotional: “Remember and Forget”

We are told to remember our past so that we can care for those who are in need.

“You shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and the Lord your God redeemed you from there; therefore I command you to do this thing.” (Deuteronomy 24:18)

God gave this as a law of the land in how those who have been blessed are not to forget those in need, and not to withhold any help they may need. The people were to do so by remembering how God helped and delivered them in their time of need, specifically how God delivered them from their bondage to the Egyptians.

Keeping this theme, the Apostle Paul praises the Lord saying, “Praise be to the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.” (2 Corinthians 1:3b-4)

We are to remember how God so graciously has forgiven, helped, and comforted us in times past, so that in the same way we are to help others in need.

But at the same time, not only are we to remember, but we are also told to forget, that is, not to allow the past to hold us back from God’s future.

“Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 3:13-14)

And so, while we are encouraged to remember our past in order to help those in our present, we are also encouraged to forget our past mistakes and sins so that we can move forward into the future God has in store.

Forget your past mistakes and remember how God has helped you so that you can in turn help others who are in need.