Gifts From God: Devotions From Time of GraceSample

God's Personal Gifts: Memory

How is it possible that computers can store so much information? Even more remarkable: how is it possible that the 2.2 pounds of gray organic sludge in your skull can do all those things? Store as much information as the Encyclopedia Britannica . . . recall smells from long ago . . . replay complex music . . . hear the voices of people long dead . . . see faces and scenes from decades long gone?

Memory is even better when faith in Christ lives there. Faith welcomes Christ’s full and free forgiveness of our sins, and thus we can remember our own failings without guilt, self-hatred, or fear. Events of the past are fixed. Memory celebrates God’s unchangeable victories over death and hell. A Hebrew poet named Asaph once wrote, “I will remember the deeds of the LORD; yes, I will remember your miracles of long ago” (Psalm 77:11).

Memory also holds the promises of God as precious treasures. When we are old, when our limbs and fingers no longer move fast, it is a comfort indeed to call up his promise that he is with us always, to the very end of the age.