Do you suffer from Spiritual Selective Amnesia?
If you do, don’t be alarmed. Many Christians fall prey to this affliction. The symptoms usually appear a year or so after they surrender their hearts to Christ. They remember the peace that overwhelmed them and carried them through the early days of their salvation. They remember the joy of instantaneously answered prayer and the easy blessings of sweet fellowship with other believers. They remember the promises of God all too well; after all, these promises were the first verses they memorized. The verses promised God’s love, peace, mercy, forgiveness, and grace. The verses that promised still waters and green pastures.
They tend to gloss over Bible passages that speak of unconditional surrender to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Their unconditional surrender eventually becomes conditional. After all, God wouldn’t lead them to places that weren’t very nice, now would He? He didn’t mean that bit about picking up their cross and following Him, did He? Maybe He intended to give them a junior-sized cross. Just like those mini-shopping carts at grocery stores so children can pretend they are shopping alongside their parents. Yes, that’s what Jesus meant!
When trials, sorrows, tragedies, and temptations come their way, they shout out to God. “Hey, this was not in our contract! Where’s the milk and honey? Where is the prosperity? Where is the glory? Why is my son rebelling against me? Why did I lose my job? Why does my family mock me when I tell them about you? Why hasn’t my husband changed? Why are you convicting me of my little quirks when people in my fellowship group at church are worse sinners than I will ever be? How fair is that?”
The covenant God made with humanity has no hidden clauses or small print.
Jesus laid out the terms of the agreement. He gave His life to save us from the consequences of our sins. He conquered death to free us from death. His death and resurrection gave us access to our Heavenly Father. God will never break His covenant with us and will never forget His promise.
In turn, we allow Him to transform us from the inside out. We vow to walk away from destructive behaviours and our selfish hearts, no matter what the cost. A small price to pay, considering how much we gain in return.
Matthew 16:24-26 – Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?”
Mark 10:29-31 – Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last first.”
Romans 5:1-5 – “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him, we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”
Lord, deliver your people from the malady of Selective Amnesia, which robs us of our peace and weakens our trust in Your character. Holy Spirit, remind us of Your truth and bring us back to the terms of our covenant. We trust You and know that You make all things better for our good, even the bitter.
©2024 Katherine Walden
Originally published in “Dare to Call Him Friend” by Katherine Walden
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