MEMORIES - PRESSED BETWEEN THE PAGES OF MY MIND!

I read the following in William Barclay's DAILY CELEBRATION, VOL.2, pp.127-128:

I was born in Wick [Scotland].  I had not seen it since 1912, but the extraordinary thing is that when we went back to Wick recently, I immediately and without hesitation recognised the street where we used to stay and could go straight to the house where I was born.

That set me to thinking about memory.

Memory is a frightening thing.  There are so many pictures which remain forever unobliterated in our minds.  In fact the psychologists tell us that we never forget anything. Everything we have ever done and seen is buried in our minds.  It may not be there on a conscious level, but it is buried deep down in the unconscious, and even there it has its effect upon us.

Obviously if we never forget anything, we should be very careful indeed what we give ourselves to remember!  [emphasis mine] 

[Therefore] We should be careful what we look at.

Sir Joshua Reynolds, the great artist, used to refuse even to look at an inferior painting, because, he said, even to look at an inferior picture had an effect on his own art.

Somewhere the picture of everything that we have seen is buried in the unconscious depths of our memories.  Whether we know it or not, that picture is affecting us.

If we allow ourselves to look at soiled and smutted things, there is defilement within our memories, even if we are unaware that it is there.

The same truth obviously applies to the things we listen to or read.

I don't know if I'm an exception or if my experience is normative?  I have memories that actually make me wince when they invade my thoughts!  I have to "take captive every thought" [II Corinthians 10:5] when they come to my mind!  These memories cause me pain!  And they are pervasive.  It takes stringent effort on my part to rid them from my consciousness!  I often go to prayer - out loud!  I quote scriptures!  I rebuke my enemy!  

Oh, how I wish I could just hit 'Delete' on these memories!  

If we could just impact our youth with this knowledge, perhaps we could save them from a similar experience.  

It's a quick trail to move from this initial observation to the problem of pornography among men [and women] today - even in the Christian community.

I was eleven when my best friend showed me my first pictures of nudes.  Even today the statistics report that eleven is typically a child's first exposure to pornographic material.  

I refuse to give statistics here because they are all over the chart and can be cited to say just about anything you want to prove.  But the fact that pornography is a problem is clear.  Christian men [and women] are continually faced with the temptation to seek erotic stimulation from sources that are far too available.   

Talk about memory!  I recall being a teenager at Family Camp.  One year, my future father-in-law - Ken Whippo - was charged with speaking to the boy's class that I was a part of.  He spoke clearly on this very topic.  He impressed on us the power of the mind!  He wanted us to realize that if we allow those images to enter our minds, then our minds can pull up those images at any time!  His warning was clear:  If you don't put those images in there, then you won't have to struggle with them in the future!  Interesting that I can recall this incident from fifty-seven years ago!  It kind of proves the point!

Being a godly man or woman calls for an intention to remain pure!  This takes determination, a plan, and accountability!

Need help with the determination part?

"Whatsoever things are true,

whatsoever things are honest,

whatsoever things are just,

whatsoever things are pure,

whatsoever things are lovely,

whatsoever things are of good report;

if there be any virtue,

and if there be any praise,

think on these things."

 Philippians 4:8

    

CHRISTIANS DIE WELL

[I came across this in William Barclay's DAILY CELEBRATION - Volume 2.  I felt compelled to share it with you today!]

T. R. Glover published his book, THE JESUS OF HISTORY, in 1917.  In it, he discusses the triumph of Christianity in the ancient world.  

It was a highly improbable triumph.  How did it happen that a small group of simple and unlettered men could go out into the world with the story of a crucified Jewish criminal and persuade men and women to take that Jesus as savior and Lord?  

Glover's answer is that the Christians were enabled by the grace of God to do three things - they outlived, they out-died, and they out-thought the pagan world.

THEY OUTLIVED THE WORLD

Why were they able to do this?  Because they could say of Jesus: "He loved me and gave himself for me" (Gal.2:20).  Every man had acquired a new dignity and a new worth because he could say that for him, as a person, the Son of God had died.

Further, he believed that the Son of God had loved and given Himself for all men.  He had therefore a motive for service that no one else had.

He was eager to help the man for whom Christ died.  He had a motive of forgiveness such as no one else had.  However unpleasant that other man might be, Jesus Christ had died for him.

He had a motive for purity such as no one else had.  He could look at a prostitute - "the victim of the common lust" as Tertullian called her - and he could know that even for her Christ had died.  And therefore he must treat her as a daughter of God and the beloved of Jesus Christ.  [Imagine how reduced the clicks for pornography would be if today's Christian men and women thought this way?]

Once a man could say "He loved me and gave Himself for me", and once he knew that that was true of everyone including himself, life could become a "new creation".

THEY OUT-DIED THE WORLD

It was this that won Tertullian, the famous Roman lawyer.  He saw the Christians die, and it shook him to the depths of his being!  "Every man," he said, "who sees it is moved with some misgiving, and is set on fire to learn the reason; he enquires and he is taught;  and when he has learned the truth he instantly follows it himself."  

When simple men and women could choose to die like that, and to die in agony, there must be something in that for which they died!

THEY OUT-THOUGHT THE WORLD

The ancient world was credulous and superstitious.  The Christian was clear-sighted and fearless.

Lucian tells how he saw on heathen shrines the notice: "Christians keep out."  The Christian saw too clearly through the mumbo-jumbo.

In the ancient world the way to destroy your enemy was to attach his name to a demon and the demon would kill him. "Go on," said the Christian, "attach my name to a demon.  I don't care.  I have a name which is above every name to keep me safe."

The Christian thought fearlessly and clearly.  The number of heresies shows the freedom and vigor with which the Christian thought.  He had a freedom of thought and speech that no one else had ever had.

_______________________________________

If we are to persuade the world that Christianity is worthwhile, the way of the early Christians is the only way.  We have to outlive the world in service, in charity, in purity and in joy.

We have to out-die the world in that we show the world that we are still prepared to pay the price of being a Christian.

We have to out-think the world, not clinging to the old ways and the old words, but ever ready for the adventure of thought in whatever age we live.