I’ve been thinking recently – for most of the summer, I think – about how forgetful we can be. Not only in the day-to-day things (go ahead and ask me on any given day what I ate for dinner the day before; I most likely won’t be able to tell you), but perhaps most especially in a spiritual aspect, I find myself living only in the moment. Now most people would likely say that’s a good thing, and to a certain degree it’s true. We want to be present for and engaged with our children, our spouses, our friends, and not allow life and the world to pass us by while our eyes are glued to our phone screens. We do need to engage with the tangible things that surround us here and now. We’re liable to find ourselves in trouble, though, if we never look back to see what patterns, both good and bad, in speech, behavior, spending, health, etc are emerging, and never look forward to see where we may end up if we continue on our current trajectory. Both the past and the future also add vital context to our present, and without that we lose at least some measure of meaning.
The same is true spiritually, I think. We all have a spiritual past – our lives before we came to Christ and the journey we’ve been on since that day, with its twistings and windings and “But God” moments – and we all have a spiritual future – the remainder of our journey through time, continued sanctification and a reordering of our loves and affections, and then at the last an eternity with the Lord in the New Heaven and the New Earth when He completes the good work He began in us – and both our origination point and our destination add crucial context and significant meaning to where we stand today. If we forget those, forget where we started and from what the Lord saved us, forget where we’re going and how very wide the gap still is between our character and that of Christ, then we are highly susceptible to pride and arrogance. There is a reason why Paul reminded the Corinthian church that according to earthly standards, they were weak, foolish, and powerless when the Lord called them, and that no one can boast in himself. (1 Corinthians 1:26-31) Moses too reminded the people of Israel that it wasn’t because of their own merits that the Lord made them His people, but because the Lord simply chose to love them. (Deuteronomy 7:7-8) The Israelites and the early church all needed to be reminded that it was the Lord’s doing, not their own. Elsewhere, Paul noted that his readers were once thieves, swindlers, and drunkards, but were so no longer, having been washed, sanctified, justified in Christ (1 Corinthians 6). He told the Ephesian church that they were dead in their sins until God made them alive again (Ephesians 2). He’s pointing them back to where they came from and removing any grounds for boasting. The passages in which we’re pointed ahead to our end destination are almost too many to number.
One method I’ve learned to utilize to recall both the past and the future is hymns. Many of the old hymns include a verse about what we once were and/or another about where we’re headed. It can seem almost formulaic sometimes, but I’ve still found it to be really beneficial to bring these things to mind. “Amazing Grace” is perhaps the most well-known of these, and does contain both, but there are countless others that include one or the other. I’ve found them to be quite helpful in combating the complacency, pride, and arrogance that can all too easily accompany a myopic focus on the present.