God Remembers What's-His-Name

By David Bragg

    In November 2011 security forces for a California university pepper sprayed a crowd of protesters holding a peaceful rally. Wanting to minimize adverse publicity the school paid around $175,000 to computer specialists to remove any hint of the unfortunate incident from search engines (Randy Cassingham, This is True, May 1, 2016).
    We serve a "forgetting" God. He has made the most amazing provisions so that those who come to Him in obedience to His Son, who died for the world's sins, could be forgiven (1 John 2:1-2; Hebrews 8:12). Of that we can be confident, as the beloved apostle John has written, "But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin" (1 John 1:7).
    But we also serve a "remembering" God. Not only does God promise us repeatedly that "their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more” (Hebrews 8:12; 10:16-17), but he also promises to remember the good that we do in His name (Hebrews 6:10). Think of that! All remembrance of countless faithful Christians throughout the history of the New Testament church has been erased, their names, their lives of service, the good that they have done and the service they have rendered have long since been forgotten. By men, that is. But God has promised us that He has not forgotten. He tells us in the closing book of inspired scripture, "Write: ‘Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.’” “Yes,” says the Spirit, “that they may rest from their labors, and their works follow them" (Revelation 14:13).
    Although the whole world forgets, the One who in the end really counts will never forget.

 - David Bragg works with the Northwest Church of Christ in Greensboro, NC and is co-editor of BulletinGold. He may be contacted through the congregation's website.