British Telecom has 5,500 dialling codes. One telephone operator, at least, knows them all by heart.
A Chinaman memorised 15,000 complete phone numbers.
Pianist Arthur Rubenstein boasted he could play 50 concertos from memory.
A Dr. Bruno Furst could recite Dickens and Tolstoy novels.
There’s a man who has memorised all the New Testament and more than half of the Old testament.
“Memory man” Leslie Welch could give you the first three winners of any Derby going back to the beginning of the century, and their odds.
A Polish mathematician looked for four seconds at the number 624,706,845,986,193,261,841, then repeated the sequence correctly.
Unfortunately, for many of us, memory is what we forget with. However, you never realise what a good memory you have until you try to forget something.
Talking about memories, how many Bible stories can you remember ? Of course, you know about David and Goliath, and Noah and the Ark, and Jesus’ miracles and stories. He said, “ Remember Lot’s wife” but I wonder if that’s gone from your mind?
Can you recall ever speaking to a real Christian about what it means to be right with God?
Did you have a godly school teacher or work-mate or parents?
When were questions like, “ Why am I here?” or “ What am I doing?” or “Where will I go when I die?” last in your mind?
Our minds can be so full for living for the moment that we forget deeper issues that affect life, death and eternity.
Here’s another question: “ Have you ever wondered why Jesus Christ was so keen for His followers to remember Him and His death?” Obeying Jesus who said “Do this in remembrance of me” Christian people gather regularly to be reminded of what Jesus did on the cross.
An old man told how, when he was a boy more than 40 years ago, his younger brother was fatally injured in a tragic accident. A dirt road ran alongside their home, and only on rare occasions would a car be seen on it. But one day as his brother was crossing the road on his bicycle, a car came roaring over a nearby hill, and he was run over and killed.
“Later, when my father picked up the mangled, twisted bike, I heard him sob out loud for the first time in my life! He carried it to the barn and placed it in a spot seldom used. Father’s terrible sorrow eased with the passing of time, but for many years whenever he saw that bike, tears began streaming down his face”
Similarly, to think that Jesus Christ died on the cross is very moving, because it was for people like you and me he died. He died in our place. He died as a substitute. he died for our sin.
With the passing of time, it is easy for us to forget past wrong deeds. But God who sees all things knows all our thoughts, words and deeds. He knew us as children, as teens, and he knows us now. As God, He can never forget us. He knows the sins we have forgotten and the sins we wish could forget. he has seen our wrong actions and our wrong attitudes. He knows the sin of yesterday, today and tomorrow.
When Jesus was on the cross, God’s great plan to deal with sin was being carried out. God did not miss any wrong from the beginning to the end of time. He took from every continent, country, city and citizen all sins, and laid them on Jesus in the dark hours of agony on the cross. He fully paid the price of our wrong doing. Three days later, Jesus rose from the dead.
Now God can say, “ Your sins and your lawless deeds, I will remember no more”.
Happily the Bible does not say that God will merely forget them, otherwise there might be a possibility of Him suddenly remembering again. But because, when Christ died He fully paid for every last little bit of our sin, and because He has risen from the dead, He is willing to completely blot out all sin, if we ask him. God will never forget that His Son died in our place, and He will never remember the sins of those who trust Him as lord and Saviour.
If we choose to put out of our minds God, or our sin, He will one day remind us of our past; but then it will be too late to turn to Him for forgiveness and a new and everlasting life with him.
One man prayed, “ Remember me oh my God, for good!”
One of the dying thieves crucified at the side of Jesus prayed, “ Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” The crucified criminal remembered his sin but because he trusted in Jesus he was promised, “ Today, you will be with me in paradise”.
Christ was paying the punishment for the wrong of the thief. He died and rose for us too. The Bible says: “Remember now your Creator in the days of your youth”. Whether you are still young or getting on in years, determine how to turn from your sin and trust Christ. Such a decision which begins in your mind, will affect every part of your life - now and forever. Ask Him to be you Lord and Saviour to forgive and be with you forever.