Memory is a wonderful thing, but it is often a humbling thing, too. Sometimes my wife will look at me and ask, “What are you doing?” And I’ll say: “Trying to remember why I came in here!”
It’s not just older folks who have trouble with memory. Bill Cosby said that all teenagers are brain-damaged from smacking themselves in the head and saying: “…I forgot!”
Remembering is frustrating sometimes, especially when it comes to reading. Sometimes I’ll read something I’ve read before. I know I’ve read it it before, because I can see my notes in the margins and places where I’ve highlighted. I’ll think: “Oh, yeah: I’d forgotten this was in this book. This is really good stuff!” Sometimes I even make more notes and highlight more of the text, apparently thinking that just maybe it’ll work this time and I’ll remember it!
Looking for material on a topic not long ago, I found a booklet containing great list by Chuck Swindoll. (Actually, I’ve found this booklet several times before, but I keep forgetting about it.) Swindoll called the list Eight Cannots to Be Remembered. He introduces them this way:
“They all begin with ‘we cannot’, because the more we observe the Lord’s supernatural power, the more we realize what we can and cannot do.
- We cannot control everything.
- We cannot change or fix anyone.
- We cannot explain many things.
- We cannot meet everyone’s expectations.
- We cannot dodge the tough questions, decisions or tasks.
- We cannot concern ourselves with who gets the credit.
- We cannot cling to the past.
- We cannot do what we do either in the flesh or on our own.
Swindoll concluded that these eight things “free us to be servants of the living God,able to admit and accept our own limitations and to trust completely in Christ to do what we cannot do.”
The Lord Jesus told us: “Apart from Me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5) Paul wrote, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” (Philippians 4:13) It’s good to remember what we can and cannot do. It’s good to remember that He is God, and we are not!
These are eight wonderful reminders. They are probably part of the reason I saved that little booklet by Chuck Swindoll, and put it in my files. I’d love to recommend the booklet to you…but I can’t remember the title or which file I put it in!
Soli Deo Gloria!
Pastor David