In so many things that we do, we feel that once we have told others something once, even twice, then they should already know. And if they should know, then they should act on that information. That seems logical, even common-sensical, doesn’t it? Yet more often than not, we find that this isn’t the case. The reality before us is that we may say a thing once, and then reiterate, but then we find that people have forgotten, misunderstood, misinterpreted, or perhaps thought that it doesn’t apply to them. And this is not just an “other people” thing, this is the case for all of us. All of us fail at some point or other in hearing fully what others have said. And often this leads to us thinking that we know, but actually we don’t. At least, our actions show that we don’t.
Take this bulletin as an example. We post announcements in the weekly bulletin, but all of us forget what has been posted. So we don’t take note of the information that has been given and we don’t act on it. Briefings can be held and documents sent out… but still the information doesn’t remain in our heads. But you know what does? Advertisements that we see and hear constantly, songs and jingles that keep getting repeated loop in our minds whether we want them to or not. And the result is that most of us can sing Shopee’s ad jingles, McDonald’s signature theme, or APT without even having to think about it.
So repetition, constant repetition – that’s an important part of remembering. And what we truly need to remember and keep fresh in our heads and hearts is the gospel. To truly know the gospel, we cannot simply rely on what we heard when we first believed, because we will forget. We cannot even rely on hearing the gospel preached on Sunday, because in today’s world we hear other things repeated far more often than that. And when we do not keep the gospel fresh in our lives, we forget, we think we know, but we don’t… and our lives show the reality of this. As we begin this new year, and approach the Lunar New Year, my prayer is that each of us will hear the gospel afresh daily and more than daily, and that we will remind each other of the true and real gospel constantly, so that all of us will live united and refreshed in the gospel of the living God, living as God’s children in God’s world, pointing the world to the only God who is worthy of worship.