What did you have for lunch two Sundays ago? What about a month ago? What about on this day, exactly one year ago? You might remember what you had two weeks ago, but chances are that unless one of those days happened to be a special occasion, you probably can’t answer the second or third question confidently. We generally don’t spend a lot of time thinking about what we had for lunch last week and some of us probably couldn’t even tell you what we ate for lunch yesterday! Isn’t it strange that in the last year of your life you’ve probably eaten between 700 and 1,000 meals, but you probably only remember a handful of them? If in the next year of my life I only ate as many meals as I specifically remember from the last year of my life, I would die of starvation. But just because I do not remember what I ate for lunch last week or a month ago or a year ago doesn’t mean those meals were unimportant. Every single one of those meals was important for my health, energy, and normal functioning in life. Those forgotten lunches—the few memorable ones and all the ones I don’t remember too—are what allow me to be who I am today. They sustained me and brought me to this point in life. 

Now let’s ask those questions we began with again but add a twist. What was the sermon about two Sundays ago? What did you pray about a month ago? What did you read from the Bible on this day, exactly one year ago? Sometimes I couldn’t even tell you what the sermon was about two Sundays ago, and I don’t remember exactly what I prayed for a month ago or what I read from my Bible a year ago! The point is that much like eating hundreds of meals over the past year and only remembering a handful of them, you’ve heard dozens of sermons, prayed countless prayers, and read extensively from God’s word, but at best you can probably only specifically remember a handful of all of those moments! Just like all those forgotten lunches, however, those sermons, prayers, and Scripture readings were crucial to your spiritual health. If in the next year you only listened to as many sermons, prayed as many prayers, and read as much of the Bible as you remember from the past year, you will starve spiritually. So as you worship, pray, and read your Bible daily, remember that these things are shaping you and forming you to become more like Christ, even if a few days from now you don’t specifically remember everything prayed or read. Sermons, prayers, and Scripture readings from days and weeks gone by may be forgotten now, but they are never unimportant.