'His Story'

It was Spanish-American philosopher George Santayana (1863-1952) that is credited with saying, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” My wife and I just got back from traveling through Europe in celebration of God’s blessing us with 40 years together. We actually were able to visit the restaurant in Dallas, Texas on our way back to Alaska where I proposed to my wife the same week 40 years ago! What a blessing it was for each of us to be able to relive such a wonderful memory!

When we think about history, as U.S. citizens, we do not have a very long story in comparison to the places we visited. Our visit to Wittenburg, where Luther nailed to the door of the Castle Church (All Saints Church) his 95 grievances against some of the traditions and practice of the church in his day has a church building across the town that dates back to 1024 A.D. We ate in a pub in London that dates back to the 1500’s. Now that is history!

As people of faith in the Lord, we need to remind ourselves that history is actually His story. Though so much of what we experienced in Europe centered around the story of mankind’s desire for power and prestige, we need to daily acknowledge that our stories are really His story. Our plans, though right and necessary, should be made in pencil while surrendering the erasure to our Lord who lovingly will alter our plans according to His good will.

May we never forget that He is the one who is able to “work all things together for the good of those who love Him and are called to His purposes” (Romans 8:28). If we forget, we will find ourselves repeating the same life-destroying mistakes of history. I love what the writer of Hebrews says, "So we must pay the most careful attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away" (Hebrew 2:1).

For too many of us, the past becomes a prison for the present keeping us from enjoying the new life we can have in Christ. God desires His story to be that which keeps us from drifting away from Him and repeating the same mistakes of the past. The one condition that we often forget is the call to literally “pay closer attention.” Say, what?!!