January 16, 2018 - - Proverbs 16: 13, 27 The Importance of Remembrance

Righteous lips are the delight of kings,

And they love him who speaks what is right.

An ungodly man digs up evil,

And it is on his lips like a burning fire.

Proverbs 16:13, 27 NKJV

The old saying is promptly proven right that a dying people

ignores its great men. A glorious heritage claims responsibility

for the future: individuals and nations, which have stood in

first ranks, should maintain their place. As long as a people

maintains its greatness, it will know its history and honour its

great men. But when there is apostasy, one will rather not hear

the strict exhortations of the past. In such days, people will

belittle the same miracles which once had made them proud.

They will ridicule their history and despise their great men, so

that the crooked and wayward children will not feel shame

when the memory and image of the great and mighty fathers

beckons them.

Klaas Schilder

Seeking escape from the shame of faithlessness, many

professing Christians have foolishly joined in the West's

present obsession with ridiculing our history and neglecting

or despising great Christian leaders in our past. For the most

part, we are actually far too ignorant of our history and

ambivalent toward, if not contemptuous of, the past. As a

consequence, today's church is in urgent need of reviving

the memory of great Christian leaders who modelled living

faith in the power of the gospel of the kingdom.

Joseph Boot "Gospel Witness Vol. II, page 102

Ruler of Nations and Guide of History, Great and Mighty God of heaven, You have given us a glorious heritage of faithful men and women who have served You. Spirit of Power, You have raised up men and women who, in their service to Jesus Christ, abolished slavery, spoke against racial injustice, upheld the virtue of marriage and worked with faithfulness in various levels of government. Spirit of the Living God, grant Christians to be a people with excellent memory so that we can recall the glory of Jesus Christ and look forward to His return, with all His holy angels, at the end of the ages when all flesh shall be judged according to their righteousness. Awesome and dreadful is Your Majesty triune God, great is the praise and honour due Your Name. Amen.