paradoxum

This morning I was reading a prayer in which God was praised for being “judge of all men”. As I prayed through that phrase, I was struck by the magnitude of that statement. To be the “judge of all men” would require: 1) that I know of the existence of every man, woman and child who has ever lived, and 2) that I would know them well enough to be their “judge”.

Think about it. Even if this were possible, you would not only have to have known of their existence, but you would have to REMEMBER them so that you could be their judge! The thought is absolutely mind-boggling.

Yet, the truth is: our God knows every man, woman and child who has ever lived.

To grasp this truth, I began to think about my own life. I’m 42 years old. I am dearly loved by my children, and if God is willing, I will be dearly loved by lots of grand-children. I remember my grandfather, and I miss him, and love him dearly. However, to my children, he is a phantom. They have a degree of admiration for him, but their feelings for him pale in comparison to mine. As my Grandfather’s parents are phantoms to me, so my Grandfather is a phantom to them. My mother and father…two of the dearest people to my heart…will be phantoms to my grandchildren.

You see, I believe what keeps us alive, is that we are remembered, and we are remembered by the stories of our lives…stories, that are forgotten within a generation or so. All of us face this prospect: we will be utterly forgotten. I couldn’t tell you one real story about my grandfather’s parents. For all intents and purposes, they are forgotten.

But God remembers them, and he will remember us.

He remembers them intimately…and not only them, but every person who has ever lived on this planet. He remembers them completely, and he will remember us completely. How could he forget any of those for whom Christ died? He remembers us. He remembers our stories, and what is more, he remembers us for good through the Gospel of his Son.

This summer my family took our annual vacation together to the beach (mom, dad, sisters, brother-in-laws, cousins, etc.). During this time, my dad told “his story” and my Granddads story, and I recorded it. We would sit around every night and listen to stories for about an hour. I could see the delight on his face and my mothers as they reminisced about their lives and the lives of their parents.

In a way, that is the image I have of heaven. I imagine God remembering our story with us and telling it to us, and to those we love. I imagine the delight God takes in telling the story of our redemption through his Son and of how he was working all for good even though we didn’t see it. I imagine him connecting the dots of our lives that we never knew existed.

God, who has forgotten all of our sins, will never forget us, but will always remember us…for good. A God who is grand enough to remember every human being who has ever existed is a God to be feared, but through the Gospel, he is a God to be loved and cherished, and, I pray, that when I am long forgotten, my children, and their children’s children will remember Him.