Desperation and Forgetfulness

Desperation. What does that mean?

Feeling, showing, or involving a hopeless sense that a situation is so bad as to be impossible to deal with. (of an act or attempt) Tried in despair or when everything else has failed; having little hope of success.

For what you believe in, for what you stand up for, are you desperate for that? Do you cling to that because you don't think anything else will do? Every day, do you wake up with it on your mind, only to finish the day with it still on your mind? i know that i can't say this all the time.

Imagine being trapped in a room, completely sealed shut. No doors, windows, cracks, vents...no means of letting anything in or out. Time, and air, is running out. It's only then, that you start to really appreciate the ability to breathe. But just as all hope seems lost, an opening is made in a wall, and the coolest, cleanest breeze of oxygen flows through and fills up that room.

Question...

When you take that first breath of air....do you savor it? How about the second...or third...or nth? How long do you go, enjoying the ability to breathe, and breathe, and breathe......before you forget that you were in that moment of desperation, and removed all blindness to a need for air....and end up taking for granted the amazing and complex system of respiration that it hides in the back of your mind...only to be forgotten again.

So, Christians....why don't we live each and every second with Christ on our mind? The One who saved us, "while we were still sinners." [Romans 5:8] It's crazy, not to mention frightfully convicting, that (many times) i have been able to go a whole day.....without intentionally focusing on my Savior. Shoot.

Is there a cure for this? A formula? A one-time action that will fix our forgetfulness? .....Nope. And to be honest, the problem isn't just forgetting, but neglecting and intentionally taking our focus off of the very Creator who gave us life, hope, and the ability to think.

Not all is lost. We are able to fight this. It's a daily battle, picking up the Bible. The divinely inspired, God-breathed, living Word of God. To be digested and immersed in....daily. [Galatians 5:16] "But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh." Yup.

Out of all the experiences i've had in my life, from extraordinary events in another country (some life-threatening), to other events that are just...out of this world or on a spiritual level that i can't quite explain in text....i still forget. i don't remember. Maybe, just maybe, i'm so content, complacent, comfortable....not dying daily to myself, so that i can end each day with self-humiliation and Christ-exaltation. But, fortunately (maybe?) to my comfort, i'm not the only one who forgets things such as this....Take, for instance, Joshua 4...God commands Joshua to have the group of people cross the Jordan. Waters parted...unnaturally. Why would someone forget something like this? Although, in addition to crossing through the parted waters, God commanded that one person from each of the twelve tribes pick up a stone and set it on the other side of the Jordan....as a memorial to that day....so that they had something to remember, to tell their children...because they would forget. That memorial served as a reminder.

What rock memorials are you creating in your life today? What steps are you taking to not forget?

[i just thought of Deuteronomy 8...you should give it a read....right now.]

Don't forget.