Remember - WHY

Mark E. Haskins

March 22, 2026

“Is that a tattoo around your wrist?”

“Yes. It’s the initials of those who have meant the most to me over the years,” my friend replied.

In varied ways and for diverse reasons we punctuate our lives with cues to trigger the remembrance of certain events, places, or people. Whether it is the trophy we put on a shelf, the photograph we hang on the wall, the diary we faithfully keep, or the tattoo on our wrist, we all selectively store, cherish, and every so often trot out, the treasured memories of our lives. Active and intentional remembering facilitates the recall of the emotions, sounds, sights, and richness associated with something or someone. It is not frivolous daydreaming nor the pastime of the bored elderly. For followers of Jesus, memories frequently provide an on-ramp to roads that lead anew to Him. Indeed, as we plumb the depths of our memories, our remembering roads are punctuated with “scenic-overlook”, “rest-area”, and “food-fuel-and-lodging,” encounters involving Him. Further, if we allow the Holy Spirit to aid our remembering, our hearts are uplifted, blessings are re-lived, and “Abba, our Father” (Romans 8: 15 and Galatians 4: 6 TCNT) springs from our lips again. He resides in our memories more than we might have thought.

Recollections fade as time and accumulated life experiences intervene. Jesus was concerned about our forgetting. In fact, with His death imminent, the very last thing He instructed His closest friends to do was the Passover supper for “remembrance of me” (Luke 22: 19 and I Corinthians 11: 24-25 ASV). In effect, it was a dying wish. As fully man, His instructions were simple—drink this cup, eat this bread. As fully God, He explained the symbolism of both. He wanted the task and its meaning to be remembered. He knew that “Of all the enemies our hearts must face, forgetting may be the worst because it is insidious…. It works slowly, commonly, and unnoticed.”¹

In one regard, “God gave us memory so that we might have roses in December.”² Sweet remembrances of moments with our Triune God can comfort us when life seems dark, cold, and barren. More importantly, we are to remember what those memories declare of Him–His reality, His faithfulness, His love, His forgiveness, His desire for us. Memories do that better than words on a page or in a sermon or podcast because they are personal, they have been lived. With reflection, aided by the Holy Spirit, memories of Him help us:

• gain a deeper perspective on our lived story,
• learn from choices made and not made, good or bad,
• identify what truly makes our heart come alive,
• appreciate the unique stories of others that we have been blessed to hear, and help us
• recall afresh the blessing of giving and receiving comfort, love, assurances, and patience.

Henri Nouwen expresses the value of remembering in that, “what is forgotten is unavailable and what is unavailable cannot be healed.” Indeed, we have fragrant roses to recall as well as thorns—“all of our past, the good as well as the bad events [have] brought us to [where we are] and we want to remember all of it as part of God’s guidance.”³ If we forget, we lose a basis for belief; if we lose a basis for belief, we doubt; if we doubt, we fear; and if we fear, we cannot love (to this latter point, see 1 John 4:18).

A search of the gospels reveals at least seven times Jesus makes it a point to tell us to remember. Many of those admonishments appear in more than one of the gospels. Is it fair to say that what He highlighted for us must be important truths and realities that He knew we would be prone to forget and that we would need in order to live the life He called us to? I think so. What, and why, did He urge us to remember?

• Remember to be discerning of the truth in those we listen to (Matthew 24:24-25 TCNT) because there will be many seductively false prophets and teachers (II Peter 2: 1, I Timothy 4: 1-6, I John 4: 1, Luke 4: 8 and Matthew 24: 11).
• Remember to have a loving and forgiving relationship with believing brothers and sisters (Matthew 5:23-24 TCNT) because dissension/division can easily arise (I Corinthians 1: 10-13).
• Remember that the world hated and was hostile to Him because it will be the same for those who follow Him (John 15:19-20 TCNT).
• Remember that He will take care of our needs (Mark 8:17-18 TCNT) because He is Shepherd to each of us (Psalms 23).
• Remember that He is with us every day and always (Matthew 28:20 TCNT) because He alone is true and faithful (II Thessalonians 3: 3 and Revelation 19: 11).
• Remember that once we have embraced His life, we are not to return to, or be desirous of, the old life we left (Luke 17:32-33 TCNT) because we are so easily tempted to do so (I Timothy 1: 6, Proverbs 26: 11 and II Peter 2: 22).
• Codifying the points above, we are to remember Him (Luke 22:18-20 TCNT) because He gave His life so that He can be ALL, for All, and in All (I Corinthians 15: 28, Ephesians 1: 22-23, and Colossians 3: 11).

Let’s probe a bit deeper. When you remember and meditate on Him, what are those holy encounters with Him that you have prominently placed on the memory mantel of your heart? Certainly, mine include the Lord as amazingly patient, loving, tender, reliable, out-of-the-box, redemptive, BIG, personal, creative, and my bridegroom. Friends recall vivid memories of experiencing Him as protector, giver of peace, lavish provider of miracles, my joy, and the one whose arms hug. All such recollections are precious to the person whose memory stores them. What are yours? Take a moment. Bring them to the fore. Let them warm you. Thank Him for them.

One final point—remembering is not living in the past. In fact, “it’s a poor sort of memory that only works backwards.”⁴ Remembering requires taking a pause, a time out from today’s busyness and tomorrow’s what’s-next concerns to mine the precious recollections of Him in the memory of your heart. In doing so, it is a blessing to let one or two percolate to the top to enrich the present moment and to also point to tomorrow’s possibilities because He is forever wonderful and unchanging (Hebrews 13: 8). Indeed, past lessons, past insights, and past revelations of our Triune God can serve as springboards for going deeper and anticipating new revelations of Him. It is good to fill our storehouse of personal memories of Him so that when needed, just like Joseph’s storing up of grain in Egypt, they will be life giving in the days that follow. “Lord, help us to remember all that we have experienced of You. Prepare us for the making of new memories with You. May both old and new memories of You make You more real and more dear today and tomorrow. Amen.”

Next month stay tuned for “Remember—What?”, which is Part 2 of this 3-part “Remember” series.

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¹ John Eldredge (2007), Desire (Thomas Nelson, Nashville, TN), p. 200.

² James M. Barrie (2010), Courage: A Rectorial Address 1922 (Kessinger Publishing, Whitefish, MT) p. 7. This speech was delivered May 3, 1922 at St. Andrews University, Scotland, UK.

³ Henri J. Nouwen (2017), You Are The Beloved (Image: NY, NY), pp. 115 and 315.

⁴ Lewis Carroll (2018), Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There—1872 (SeaWolf Press, Orinda, CA), p. 50.

NOTES: TCNT (Twentieth Century New Testament), Revised Edition, Published in 1900-1904 by Fleming H. Revell Company, in the public domain. ASV (American Standard Version), Published in 1901, in the public domain.

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