Believing Forgetters
Last week our staff team celebrated communion together, as we do each month. It’s one of my favorite times of worship here at the Summit, a time when none of us are worrying with weekend responsibilities or what’s happening out in the lobby. It’s a time for us to just be.
And maybe that’s why a particular phrase arrested my attention. We were being led by John McGowan, one of our church planting residents with Summit Network. In regards to communion, John reminded us:
“We are a room full of believing forgetters.”
Believing forgetters. In other words, we can easily articulate the foundations of our faith: Jesus lived a perfect life in our place. He died a substitutionary death on the cross for our sins. He rose from the tomb in order to defeat death, hell, and the grave. He sent the Holy Spirit in order that we might have his indwelling power.
We can believe that Jesus is greater than any earthly competition for his affection. We can say that his glory should eclipse all others in our life. We can sing of our love for him, our devotion to him, our passion for him.
But while we believe, we forget.
We get into the busyness of our day, and we forget. We get into the heat of a trial, and we forget. We wrestle with the same old sins, and we forget.
What we know to be true, we forget to be true.
And that’s why we need the daily reminder of the gospel. We need the daily prompt that – though we’re more wicked than we could imagine, we’re more loved than we could hope. We need to turn our attention again to the cross. We need to remind ourselves of Jesus’ promises and his power over and over again.
We need to remember what we’re prone to forget.
“…let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.” (Hebrews 10:22-23)
