Sinclair B. Ferguson

But first of all, a question.

How do you remember?

You know how people tell you, you should think, but how do you go about thinking?

And I think the same is probably true of remembering.

It's all very well to be told to do it, but how do you do it?

Can you really make yourself remember?

When I was a child, I was taught that if there was something I needed to remember, I should tie a knot in my handkerchief, put it in my pocket, and when I needed to remember it, take the handkerchief out, and I would be able to remember it, and it worked for a while.

Later on, when it stopped working, I developed the technique of going to the spot where I thought I had last remembered what I had forgotten, and sometimes I stood there for quite a long time, forgetting.

But what was I trying to do when I did that?

I was trying to trigger in my mind, trying to, as it were, click on the file of the information to get it to open up so that I could remember what it was that I should be doing or thinking or where I should be going.

In other words, I was trying to stimulate my memory banks.

Now, is there some kind of spiritual equivalent of that?

Well, the scriptures do teach us how to develop a really healthy spiritual memory.

Not, it should be said, in the way we would be taught to do it by Eastern mystics, that is, by emptying our mind.

In fact, the very reverse.

What Scripture teaches us is the key to remembering is filling our minds with the truth of God and then employing the stimulants that God has given us to remember the things that we must never forget.

But what are the things we must never forget?

Well, we'll talk about one or two of them later in the week, but I want to mention one very briefly.

It may come as something of a surprise.

It's actually one of the most helpful things the Bible tells us.