Memo to self: Don't forget His love.

"Praise the Lord, O my soul
Don't forget His love
Who forgives all of your sins
And who heals all your diseases
Who redeems your life from the pit
And who crowns you with His love."
Ellie Holcomb, "Don't Forget His Love (Psalm 103)"

Life is a series of remembering and forgetting.

And what we remember (or forget) is based on what we have known. In the book of Hosea, the prophet speaks about Israel's lack of knowledge of the Lord. He does not speak of mere "head" knowledge. Rather, it is relational, to know the Lord personally. Like any true relationship, our relationship with the Lord transforms us.

The Lord commands the prophet Hosea to marry a prostitute, Gomer. The point is to illustrate the relationship between the Lord and rebellious Israel. Since knowledge is relational, forgetting the Lord is like cheating on your spouse. God hurts when we turn away to worship other idols – for all along, He is the one who sustains us with every breath!

"Gomer says, 'I will go after my lovers,
who give me my bread and my water,
my wool and my flax, my oil and my drink.'
...She did not know
that it was I who gave her
the grain, the wine, and the oil,
and who lavished on her silver and gold." (Hosea 2:5b, 8)

The Lord knows we need His love to be fully human. His love is stronger than our sin and our tendency to forget and wander off. He still wants to redeem us back, just as Hosea redeemed Gomer from other men and promised to love her forever. He has every right to cast us off for our covenant unfaithfulness and idol worship as the bride of Christ, yet He does not. Instead, He chooses to redeem our metaphorical marriage covenant through the cross of Christ.

And the Lord's Supper is the renewal of the marriage covenant. Jesus says: "All I have is yours" – meaning forgiveness, grace, and unconditional love – and "All you have is mine" – meaning your brokenness, sin, and forgetfulness, which He redeems by taking it all upon Himself!

"I'm so forgetful, but You always remind me
You're the only one who brings me peace."
United Pursuit, "Running in Circles"

So self, when emotions tangle your thoughts and desires try to tell you what will bring peace; when reason persuades you that it is too good to be true:

Remember the amazing love you have known. You often wander from the Source of Life, yet He longs to betroth you once again in "righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and in mercy" (Hosea 2:19).

Forgetting is not where you want to be, so remember.

Please, remember.