Recently, I had the privilege of accompanying my wife to her 50th high school reunion. She graduated with a class of 600 students, which is difficult for me to relate to since my high school class only had 72.
The reunion was a wonderful time for my wife and me. There are so many interesting people in her class, from radio announcers to attorneys to engineers who worked on secret government projects. Plus, the people I met were genuinely friendly.
A couple of days after we got back home, I had some time to think about reunions: family reunions, class reunions, ROMEO’s (retired old men eating out). There are always many conversations about what is new in each other’s lives, but inevitably, shared memories are revisited with each person remembering some details differently from others.
Reminiscing is fun and serves as a way to reinforce bonds among friends. However, these old memories can open the door and let a danger slip in. This danger is allowing old memories to rebuild desires, dreams, or habits that, as Christians, we have spent years dismantling in our lives.
The Apostle Paul warned the church in Galatia, “For if I rebuild what I tore down, I prove myself to be a transgressor.” (Galatians 2:18) He goes on to write:
I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. – Galatians 2:20
It is easy, and the enemy is eager, for old memories to turn us to worldly matters: old flames, old wounds, and old behaviors; memories of a dead man or woman. Now, Jesus lives in us, and we are a new creation with a new family and a new understanding of what is good. These are preeminent characteristics of our lives.
It’s fun and healthy to revisit memories with family and friends, but we must be diligent to remember who we belong to and the price Jesus paid for our new lives.
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