If you happen to stroll into our headquarters in Colorado Springs, Colorado, you’ll instantly see this Scripture on the wall: “We are going to inform the following era the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord, his energy, and the wonders he has completed” (Psalm 78:4). It is a treasured Scripture to ACSI as we acknowledge a key a part of why we exist. Throughout the historical past of the Jewish folks, God was very intentional about guaranteeing that His folks remembered the important thing occasions that demonstrated His faithfulness and goodness to them. Passover celebrates God’s deliverance of the Jews from Egypt within the days of Moses, and Purim celebrates God’s deliverance of the Jews from Haman within the days of Esther. Our personal Christian holidays, corresponding to Christmas and Easter, comply with that mannequin of remembrance with Christ’s beginning, dying, burial, and resurrection.
One of many largest advantages of remembrance is bringing ourselves again to moments in time, whether or not in our lifetimes or throughout historical past, to recall what the LORD has completed. The additional we drift from the moments God moved in our lives and throughout historical past, the extra topic we’re to creating our personal narratives which might be based mostly on current emotions, circumstances, and cultural norms.
As a substitute, by contemplative and worshipful remembrance, we remind ourselves of all that we consider and why, piercing by means of the shakiness of our current situation and re-establishing ourselves on the Rock of Ages. This offers us confidence that God is identical yesterday, at the moment, and without end, together with his faithfulness and goodness up to now extending additional nonetheless into our current and future.
Many occasions in Scripture, God requires tangible reminders of main occasions to be established. In Joshua 4:1-8, God instructs the Israelites to cross the Jordan River, which He miraculously stopped to permit the Israelites to cross. Joshua directs representatives from the 12 tribes to take stones from the riverbed. These stones are later arrange within the Promised Land at Gilgal as a memorial to God’s faithfulness and intervention. Later within the chapter, the story continues:
“On the tenth day of the primary month the folks went up from the Jordan and camped at Gilgal on the jap border of Jericho. And Joshua arrange at Gilgal the twelve stones that they had taken out of the Jordan. He mentioned to the Israelites, “Sooner or later when your descendants ask their dad and mom, ‘What do these stones imply?’ inform them, ‘Israel crossed the Jordan on dry floor.’ For the Lord your God dried up the Jordan earlier than you till you had crossed over. The Lord your God did to the Jordan what he had completed to the Pink Sea when he dried it up earlier than us till we had crossed over. He did this so that each one the peoples of the earth would possibly know that the hand of the Lord is highly effective and so that you simply would possibly all the time concern the Lord your God.” Joshua 4:19-24
Memorial stones will be tailored in some ways. There are the normal Christian celebrations, sacraments, and different beneficial annual repetitions of the church calendar. However they will also be created amongst your households. A part of how my household celebrates New 12 months’s Eve is we choose 100 footage and movies that signify essentially the most important moments of this yr. I sit our household down (our children are 5 and beneath), and we put the alternatives on our TV. One after the other, we undergo them, our household collaborating in sharing what they keep in mind about these moments. Later, when our children are in mattress, my spouse and I prepare dinner a meal collectively and memorialize the final yr by celebrating God’s faithfulness by means of every up and down. We pray for one another and stay up for what God will do subsequent, in religion anticipating one other yr by which we might undergo collectively for God’s glory.
Many individuals look again into the previous and select to turn into certain by it. However the LORD calls us to look again for functions of wanting forward. Remembering God’s faithfulness and goodness, even when issues haven’t gone effectively not too long ago, can fill you with hope and expectation that he’ll redeem the previous as you sing of the praiseworthy deeds of the LORD.
In 2025, take moments to cease to determine memorial stones amongst your households and people closest to you. Inform the following era in regards to the Cross, the Tomb, and the Resurrection. Inform them about how God rescued you from the depths of despair, from the clutches of your darkest sin, and from the catastrophe that got here of your satisfaction and selfishness.
Wanting ahead, 2025 can be full of alternatives and challenges, and we don’t know what the yr will convey. However put together your self for the top of the yr by resolving in your coronary heart to recollect what God has completed and have fun what God is doing, taking stones from the riverbed and bringing them into the promised land. God solely is aware of how the story of your 2025 might ripple by means of generations to return, by means of the ears of individuals you might by no means meet, as they encounter Jesus by means of the tales you memorialize.
Concerning the Writer:
Chris Loncar is the VP of Human Sources on the Affiliation of Christian Faculties Worldwide. He spent the primary 10 years of his calling as a pastor earlier than transitioning to the human sources subject, a mix that has given him a flexible and considerate strategy to main the HR operate of a corporation. He has a Bachelors Diploma in Human Sources Administration and is a Senior Licensed Skilled by means of the Society of Human Sources Administration. His ardour is fostering environments and creating alternatives for workers to thrive in what they’re gifted to do by coming alongside to advise, prepare, encourage, and encourage. He resides in Colorado Springs, Colorado, together with his stunning spouse and three younger youngsters.
