Remembering Well by Adam Brewer

Words by Adam Brewer

Whether it’s due to some personal challenges, weighty leadership decisions, Glory
Fellowship’s upcoming 20th year anniversary, or a combination of all three, the previous weeks
have offered moments of greater reflection and remembrance for me. Taking a temporary hiatus from coaching and sports has already proven helpful in opening the mental space to do what God repeatedly commands us to do: “Remember.” Building space and time in our lives to remember God’s faithfulness, promises, and warnings doesn’t seem super spiritual, yet our Creator knows our foolish tendencies of forgetfulness that inevitably lead to spiritual apathy for Christ and his mission.

We should appreciate the time markers of life that demand our full attention and reflection when we would otherwise continue sprinting on the treadmill of life. A church’s 20th year anniversary, a person’s 40th birthday, or even grieving the death of a loved one can prime the pump of remembrance which should be regularly humming in the life of a Jesus-follower. So, how do we obey God’s command to remember, and how can we remember well?

1) Remember with Unhurried Intimacy
Everywhere we go and everyone we meet seems to remind us of how busy life can be. God
indeed calls us to hard work and faithful service. Laziness is unfit for the Kingdom of God and
the local church. However, busyness and hurriedness are not synonyms for faithfulness. Listen to what the late Calvin Miller had to say about intimacy with Jesus,
“Our barrier to full intimacy with the Savior is hurriedness. Intimacy may not be rushed.
To meet with the Son of God takes time. We have learned all too well the witless art of
living fast. We gulp our meals sandwiched between pressing obligations. The table of
communion with Christ is not a fast-food franchise. We cannot dash into his presence and
choke down inwardness before we hurry on to our one o’clock appointment. Communion
is time consuming, open only to minds willing to sample spirituality in small bites,
savoring each one. It is difficult to teach the unhurried discipline of the table to a culture
brought up on frozen dinners and condensed novels. We can hardly enjoy intimacy with
Christ if we are always looking at our watches, wondering how much time we may
reasonably give our Host. Holy living is not abrupt living. No one who hurries into the
presence of God is content to remain there for long. Those who hurry in, hurry out.” 1
The busy mind has no vacancy to welcome remembrance. It has no time to reflect deeply on
God’s past faithfulness or Christ’s present goodness. It has no quiet into which the Holy Spirit
can speak words of warning or guidance. Before we can practice the upcoming principles, we
must learn to remember with unhurried intimacy.

2) Remember with Joyful Thanksgiving
Grace experienced leads to gratitude expressed. As we think about God’s past acts of faithfulness and numerous blessings upon on our lives and his local church, we should remember with joy-filled thanksgiving. In your prayer closet, thank the Lord for every remembrance of his work, (1 Calvin Miller, A Hunger for the Holy, 48-49) and then tell others about his goodness when you leave the closet. Be careful not to remember only the mountaintops of life; thank God for his presence through the dark valleys as well."
Today, I came across this stark reminder from David Allen, “Praise to God which extends only
from prosperity is closer to idolatry than thankfulness.” God is good even during bad times.
Individually and corporately, we must share and rejoice in some specific instances of Christ’s
salvation and goodness.

3) Remember with Reverent Fear
“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge” (Proverbs 1:7). Genuine growth in
godliness leads to greater reverence, not less. A lack of reverent fear caused Israel to spiral into
godlessness and apathy. They forgot God’s holiness and his call for holy living. They ignored the
demand for purity, and they became spiritual prostitutes. They conformed to the culture, and they inherited chaos. To think that it can’t happen to us would be the epitome of pride and ignorance. Stopping to remember ought to leave us in awe of God and lead us to a fourth mark of remembering well.

4) Remember with Renewed Surrender
Remembering isn’t a passive activity. When we come to the Lord’s Table to share the Lord’s
Supper in remembrance of Jesus, we shouldn’t come thoughtlessly or haphazardly. That’s
dangerous. Instead, we celebrate Jesus’ sacrifice and renew our surrender to him. Glory
Fellowship’s 20th year celebration is not a time for backslapping and personal applause. It’s a
time for celebrating God’s past faithfulness and surrendering ourselves anew to his present work. Remembering is an occasion for self-examination and flesh-crucifying. Only then can we think about all that God will do in our lives and his local church.

5) Remember with Hopeful Anticipation
Remembering is a present reflection of the past that prepares us for the future. Days before Israel was to enter the Promised Land, Moses spoke to the congregation about the past to prepare them for the future (Deuteronomy 8). Our regular remembrance through the Lord’s Supper is a foretaste of the future Marriage Supper of the Lamb. Savoring God’s past grace leads us to do a present holy dance of worship as we anticipate what God will do in future years.

My desire for Glory Fellowship’s 20th anniversary is simply this: Remembering Christ’s
goodness during the first twenty years births a joyful thanksgiving that bows in reverent fear
resulting in a renewed surrender as we anticipate what God will do in us and through us for his
glory and the world’s good during the next twenty years.

Just One More,
Adam Brewer