I Forgot, but God Didn't

Try as I might to organize myself and make plans, it seems that I am still really good at forgetting things from time to time.  I mean, sometimes it seems like I forget more of my obligations than I remember.  To list some of my failures, I have been known to get so busy writing that I forget to eat, I have forgotten to study for a college-level test before (this was with a planner!), and more recently, this past Friday I forgot to post something here on Savvy Sheep.

Is this like you, too?  I hope someone will agree with me, so I don't have to feel like I'm losing my mind.  I think the problem is not so much a memory issue as it is a focus issue.  When I forgot that test, it was not out of habit or even carelessness.  A friend had needed me to be there for her the night before, and by the end of it, I had put my whole focus on that, to the neglect of other things.

Our Lack of Focus

When something gets so huge that it engulfs our focus, we tend to forget, and neglect, the other things that need our attention.  This can happen with housecleaning, it can happen with relationships, and it can even happen with our relationship with God.

Yes, in the spirit of humble confession, I have been known to neglect my relationship with God in the midst of busy times with my work and so forth.  Unfortunately, I think this is also a fairly universal problem of human beings.  The saddest part of it all is that it doesn't pay to neglect God.  Nothing else is truly satisfying.   Even when I open the Bible and it convicts my heart of sin, I appreciate the concern for me that went into those words.  As David wrote, "your rod and your staff, they comfort me," (Psalm 23:4 NIV 2011).

God's Absolute Focus

Contrast our lack of focus with God's absolute focus.  From the moment Adam and Eve sinned, God set into action a plan that He carried out at the perfect time.  He didn't forget the people who forgot Him.  All the time that they were suffering in the bondage they had foolishly chosen, He was working out a solution, and He didn't leave even one detail, not even one word, to chance (Romans 5:6; Isaiah 55: 10-11).

And now that He has accomplished the salvation that He had planned, He is still working on other plans He made.  It is clear by what He does that people are high on God's priority list, and other things are not stealing His focus.  In Jesus' words, "Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God.  Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows," (Luke 12: 6, 7 NIV 2011).


God focuses so much on us because He loves us.  Just as we can spot our loved ones in a crowd or even from great distances, God can filter out all the distractions and see only our hearts and our needs.  He loves us and cherishes us.

The Meaning of Neglect

What a terrible thing it is to neglect God!  It is so important to spend time with God, meditating on His word and making His thoughts our rules for living.  His ways are good, and obeying Him protects us from the suffering of punishment.  Taking time to study His word changes our focus and transforms our lives into the healthy pattern that He desires for us.

Going deeper still, His ways are the only things in this world that have value, and this is proven every time we come back to Him.  All else fades in transience and disappointment.  His word, eternally enthroned as Christ (John 1:1), lasts forever, but the ways of the world will always crumble and die.


Going even deeper still, when we neglect God, we are neglecting someone who loves us more than the people who love us most.  We are insulting our closest friend, and putting off the God who loves us so much that He sent His son to die for us.  There is a note of betrayal there, and the stench of sin. Keith Green sung about it in his song, "You Love the World (and You're Ignoring Me)."  Here is the video:

Today, let us take our focus off of the distractions of the world, and reject the things that corrupt us.  Maybe we forget things, but let's not forget God.  He hasn't forgotten us.

Celebrate Freedom on the 4th of July

Today is Independence Day, the U.S. celebration of the formation of our country.  I'm thankful today for the freedom of religion that I get to enjoy today, because of the sacrifices of soldiers and their families, from 1776 to the present.

I enjoy a certain freedom that lets me join other Christians in my country in public worship and I am protected when I openly express my religious ideas in places like this blog.  I know there are many places in this world where the freedoms I exercise are not present, and Christians have to hide to avoid persecution.

There's one thing I have in common with all of my fellow Christians around the world today.  We are free in Jesus, because His sacrifice freed us from the bondage of sin.  Our bodies may not always be safe from trouble, but our souls are safely in His keeping.

He [Jesus] went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. He stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:

“The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
   because he has anointed me
   to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
   and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free,
    to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” (Luke 4: 16-20 NIV 2011; referencing Isaiah 62: 1, 2; 58:6)

"So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed" (John 8: 36 NIV 2011)!  Amen to that, and thank you, Lord, for that freedom.

Weekly Snippet: Avoid the Appearance of Evil

Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.  Abstain from all appearance of evil.  And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. --1 Thessalonians 5: 21-23 KJV

I grew up hearing this passage in the King James Version, rather than the New International Version (which I most commonly use on this site).  The newer translations say to "avoid all evil," but to me, the KJV is even more strict in its cautions.  Don't just avoid all evil; avoid even what might appear to be evil.  Together with the sentence right before that caution, the passage seems to be promoting circumspection--that is, looking at the situation from all angles before proceeding.

The language is very much against following our impulses and jumping in with both feet, unlike what the whole world seems to be teaching us these days.

Then there is that last sentence, about being sanctified wholly and being preserved blameless until the Second Coming.  From my understanding, what Paul was saying is that circumspection and our own outward attempts at obedience are not enough to preserve us and sanctify us.  The will to test every situation to see if it lines up with the Word of God, the strength to hold on to what is good, and the ability to avoid everything that is evil are all supernatural heart changes, not simply behavioral changes.  We are talking about a change brought about by God that starts from the inside, from the soul, and has the effect of changing outward behavior.

So this passage seems to say that it is not possible to make ourselves blameless, even by watching ourselves and fighting the impulses that lead us into sin.  The heart must be blameless before the whole person and their lives can be called blameless.  Is there other support for this teaching in the Bible?  The Pharisees in Jesus' day were known for their spotless public adherence to the law, but Jesus said to them, "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence.  Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean," (Matthew 25-26 NIV 2011).  By the end of that interaction, the inside of their cups, figuratively speaking, had been poured out even in their actions, so their outward blamelessness had been stripped from them.


I believe in consciously obeying God, not just waiting for God to help us to obey Him.  I believe God wants us to examine ourselves for sinful behavior and root it out, but I also know from personal experience that this is no small task.

Obedience really has three parts.  First we must become aware of a problem, and that means we have to read the Bible and compare ourselves to it, like looking at our own reflection in the mirror (1 James 1: 22-25).  We cannot obey God without first reading, hearing, and knowing the commandments He has instructed us to obey (Romans 10: 17). Second, my personal experience and Bible reading has taught me that we should pray for God to help us to remember His precepts at the time the challenge occurs, since He has promised us that help  (John 14: 25-26).  It is easy to forget teachings like "anger but sin not" when someone is shouting at us and baiting us to lose our tempers, but obedience is not obedience if it vanishes at the first challenge!  God can bring to our minds, even at that moment, what He has required of us, if we ask Him.  A final step in obeying God is developing the humility to listen to God when He tells us what to do in the heat of a fight or challenge.  Even when we have learned what is right, and asked God to help us remember to obey, we have to do what He says through the prompting of our consciences. 


I believe that God can transform our hearts and our habits, if we let Him, until He has truly made us into new creations (2 Corinthians 5: 17-19).  We avoid the appearance of evil and the reproach of sin by first having past guilt removed through Christ's atonement, and next by guarding our lives from further guilt by following the Lord's instructions.  If we don't open our hearts to His criticism and conviction, He cannot wholly sanctify us--that is, transform us from the inside out--and we will be subject to reproach at His coming.  Let us prepare our hearts for Him!

Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path. (Psalm 119: 105 NIV 2011)