But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does. James 1:22-25
Several times recently I’ve heard “I forgot” from my children and I’ve been wanting to talk about the matter with them. There’s a great passage in Proverbs that I can’t remember at the moment that addresses the issue, but my children don’t understand it. All the while I’ve been wondering. Is forgetting a sin? If I “put off” forgetting, what I should “put on” (See Ephesians 4:22-24)? This week when I saw the James passage, I knew I had my answer.
The trouble was, I was convicted for myself, so I’ve not yet had that conversation with my children.
I forget too often. I forget to read my Bible. I forget to pray. I forget to make phone calls. I forget to do all the things I intended to do at church. I forget to repent. I do all those things because they’re not important to me.
In my Bible reading, I’ve been paying attention to how often the Bible tells us to remember and how often it tells us not to forget. Now I need to go to sleep, on purpose. Maybe tomorrow we’ll have that conversation.
Apparently God understands and condescends to our propensity toward forgetting…that is why the Lord’s Supper was instituted. And, think of this–of all things for us to need reminding about! God’s greatest gift! How could we possibly become forgetful about that? But we are.