Selective Memory

My Memory isn’t what it used to be. Especially with names! I tried many different techniques of remembering people’s names; repeating their names over and over; familiarization of their name and something about them specifically; and many others. It didn’t work for me. I even tried an old trick where you ask the person to spell their name for you as if you were taking notes. The last person I tried this method with replied sarcastically,
“S, M, I, T, H”.

The longer we live, the more there is to remember. And yet the more we remember, the more we forget as well. Isn’t that ironic? That could be due to several things. That could be memory loss. Or it could be selective memory.

How much do you remember? They say that as we grow older, our long-term memory may stay in place, but our short-term memory has problems. I know that I can remember lots of things from way back, like when I climbed the tree in the front yard. I remember that because I got stuck and my Mom had to climb up to get me. Yes, my Mom was cool that way!

I remember the last time my Dad laughed. I was 7 or something. I had taken my Schwinn Bicycle (pretty cool back then) and rode down the biggest hill in our neighborhood. A dog ran out in front of me and I T-boned (no pun intended) the dog with the front wheel of my bike. I went flying over the handle bars and slid down most of the asphalt hill on my side. Not Pretty! My Dad thought it was the funniest thing.

My short term memory though, sometimes I forget where I leave it. I think it may have something to do with selective memory. Selective memory: meaning that we remember certain things and forget other things, on the basis of our feelings. If it feels good, our selective memory remembers certain things and forgets others. Not consciously, maybe, but subconsciously.

Think about it, I can tell you the day, hour and minute I got my last promotion. (Good Selective memory=ON!) When I had my surgery last year and I woke up in a lot of pain. Spent 2 days in the hospital but I can’t remember what actually transpired while I was there. (Bad Selective Memory =OFF!)

We do this with sin. Selective memory can mean that we just turn a blind eye to our sin. We wipe out all the stuff that hurts, we concentrate on the good times, and we hope the pain and the sin will go away. If we think we can deal with the issue of sin just by forgetting about it, we are off the mark. It won’t work.

The Bible says, “You can be sure that your sins will find you out.” Just when you least expect it, that thing called guilt will jump up and grab you by the throat, and the memories will come back. The pain and the shame, the guilt and the wrong, it will come back to haunt us. Selective memory will not, by any means, get rid of sin.

If your selective memory is stuck in remembering only the fun and frothy moments, and you do not recall your sin, you will have missed the grace of God. But it is also true that if your selective memory is stuck in remembering only the painful and the shameful, and you do not recall the mercies of God, you too will have missed the wonderful grace of God. Either way, you have missed the grace of God. Either way, selective memory is a deep, deep spiritual issue.

The good news is that God too has selective memory! God has provided a way through which He will choose to remember selectively. The Scripture puts it, “He will remember our sins no more.” God’s selective memory is an occasion of grace for us.

Here are a couple things you should SELECT to REMEMBER!

Remember how God has been gracious.

Remember how God has given life and life abundant.

Remember and be thankful.

Remember to come to God’s Table, unashamed and unafraid, here to remember the Lord’s death until he comes again.

Remember!