When people enjoy (or endure) some fireworks and bonfires this year, perhaps very few will remember why it’s just now, writes Bert Cargill of St Monans Gospel Hall.
The passage of time has made the “Gunpowder Plot” on November 5th, 1605, to be forgotten. Guy Fawkes’ plot to blow up the House of Lords was discovered and foiled, and an Act of Parliament decreed that bonfires should be lit throughout the and every year to remember how serious it was! The Act was repealed in 1859 but that’s how the habit began.
This past weekend was also different. Communities across the country and abroad pledged not to forget but rather remember the sacrifice and bravery of so many in the cause of freedom over the years. No bonfires and no fun. Just quiet reflection, sadness, and thankfulness. War is dreadful. The price of peace should not be forgotten.
We can forget things so easily. It’s a problem we all face all as we get old(er). There are some things we would rather forget but they often intrude into our quiet moments. It’s difficult to “forgive and forget”, no matter how hard we try, whether it is to forgive others or to forgive ourselves.
Now this thing that we find so difficult, is the very thing that God does when we turn to Him in repentance, putting our faith in Jesus Christ and what He did for us when He died on the cross. It was there that He paid the penalty for our sins and failures. When we accept Him as our Saviour, God willingly forgives us no matter how wrong or how bad we may have been. And then God says, “Their sins and their iniquities I will remember no more.” (Hebrews 8.12). He won’t bring them up again. He forgives and forgets. Is that not good to know?
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