Sin and Forgetfulness
One of the saints said that sin is preceded either by desire, or by virtue, or by forgetfulness…
And today I would like to speak to you about forgetfulness, and its effect on committing sins, and what we must remember so that we do not sin…
At the time of sin, we are forgetting God, forgetting our spiritual life, forgetting death and eternity, forgetting the spirits of the angels and the saints who are around us, and also forgetting God’s commandment and all principles and values…
If you remembered that all these are before you, you would be ashamed and would not sin. If you remembered that they see you and hear you, you would hesitate كثيرا before you sin. But at the hour of sin, a person is forgetting everything.
So if someone reminds him, he only returns him to his awareness.
God has set for us the written law, to remind us of what is in the inner natural law that exists within us.
And so that we do not forget these commandments, He set for us precautions to remind us.
So He said to us: “Let these words which I command you today be on your heart, and you shall teach them to your children, and speak of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk on the road, and when you lie down, and when you rise. And you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. And you shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates” (Deut. 6:6–9).
All that so that we may remember and not forget…
And He repeated these commandments to us in the book of Deuteronomy, and this book was given to kings so that they might remember the law. And God commanded us to read these commandments continually, and to meditate on them day and night. And these commandments were distributed over the weeks of the year so that people might hear them, in the Old Testament in the synagogues, and in the New Testament in the churches.
And lest we forget reading, He sent to us the apostles and the prophets to remind us, then the fathers, shepherds, priests, and preachers, to remind us lest we forget…
And in the church, passages from the Gospels, the epistles of Paul, the catholic epistles, and the Acts of the Apostles are read to us in every liturgy, and a psalm and a gospel, just as we read a chapter from the Gospel in every hour of the Agpeya. And by كثرة reading, we remember the commandments so that we do not perish, as the prophet David said:
“Unless Your law had been my meditation, I would then have perished in my affliction.” Thus every sin that wars against us, we place before it the commandment, so we do not fall.
First, so that we do not forget. And second, so that we may take from the commandment its power, as the Scripture says that: “The word of the Lord is living and effective, and sharper than any two-edged sword.”
And also so that we do not forget, God gave us seasons and feasts:
God saw that remembering the sufferings of Christ for our sake is beneficial for us, as we see the great love that made Him give Himself for us and redeem us. So to remind us of this great redemption, He gave us the Holy Week with all its spiritual effect. And so that we do not forget after Pascha, He gave us besides this annual remembrance a weekly remembrance in the fast of Wednesday and Friday, in which we remember the conspiracy against Christ and His crucifixion. And to confirm not forgetting, He gave us a remembrance every day in the prayer of the sixth hour. And how many daily remembrances have been given to us in the Agpeya.
And so that we may remember, He gave us in the church icons, crosses, and rites. In every liturgy we review all the life of Christ and His work.
And thus also we obtain the same benefit by reciting the Creed.
God wants us not to forget. Because when we forget His work for us, our love decreases, our fervor cools, and we drift with the present world…
Therefore, those who do not forget God do not sin. Thus we saw the prophet David say: “I have set the Lord always before me”… because as long as he remembers God, he does not sin.
Not only that remembering God keeps us from sin, but also remembering our sins makes us repent of them, and remember our weakness so that we may be cautious and not sin…
Thus we find the prophet David saying: “My sin is before me always.”
If we forget our sins, we fall into pride, and swim in vain glory. And if we forget our sins, we remember the sins of others and judge them, and may also be harsh toward them. And if we forget our sins, we do not examine our actions, nor guard against stumbling blocks, and before destruction is pride.
Why do we place our sins before us, while the Lord has forgiven them?! We remember them so that we may be humble, and so that we may be cautious, and so that we may realize the Lord’s love for us, how much He endured, and how much He forgave…
Because of Eve’s sin, God made her conceive and bear children in pain. And God forgave her this sin, yet she still conceives and bears in pain, so that she does not forget… for this is more beneficial for her…
Likewise, Adam still eats his bread by the sweat of his brow, after the forgiveness of sin, so that he does not forget that he sinned, and so that he does not forget the great price the Lord paid for him in order to save him…
God does not want us to forget His work for us and His love for us, and even more He wants us not to forget Him Himself. For forgetfulness is a نقص in love, and by forgetfulness we drift away from God, and our souls become dry…
At the crossing of the Jordan, stones were set up from the river so that they might remind people of the great crossing lest they forget it. And in the miracle of the manna, a portion of it was kept in the pot of manna in the Ark of the Covenant, so that people would not forget the Lord’s provision for them in the wilderness. And thus Aaron’s rod that budded was kept in the ark so that people would not forget the miracle…
And just as we do not forget God’s work for us, it is not right to forget His promises to us. For remembering His promises gives us reassurance, confidence, and hope…
And in remembering God’s promises, how beautiful is the saying of the prophet David: “Remember the word to Your servant, upon which You have caused me to hope; this has comforted me in my affliction” (Ps. 119).
Perhaps one word from the Lord’s promises may be a source of great joy for a person throughout his whole day, like the verse that says: “I am with you; I will not leave you nor forsake you”… the heart continues to repeat it with joy, trusting in God’s promises, remembering examples from the past.
And every time he repeats this comforting verse, he rejoices like one who has found great spoil, and says to the Lord again: “Remember the word to Your servant, upon which You have caused me to hope; this has comforted me in my affliction”… truly, how beautiful is remembering God’s promises.
And as we remember the Lord’s promises to us, we should also remember our commitments to Him:
How many commitments we have presented to the Lord in times of distress or illness or during exam days, asking the Lord for deliverance and mercy. Do we still remember our commitments? Also the commitments we said on the day of baptism, and which we say in every liturgy, and in every confession and repentance… do we remember them?! How many vows we have made, and even some have vowed their lives…
Also we should remember God’s benefactions to us and to our loved ones, because in remembering God’s benefactions we melt in love because of His dealings with us, and we melt in shame because of our ingratitude. And in all this our humility deepens…
And if we forget God’s benefactions, our love grows cold, and we complain and grumble in times of distress, as if our life were only distress…
How beautiful it is to remember that God has not abandoned us, no matter how we have abandoned Him! And that He has been faithful to us, despite our unfaithfulness to Him…!
In all this we become ashamed, humbled, and our love for God increases…
The saints became saints because they continually remembered God. God was their song and their hymn. As it is said in the praise: “Sweet is Your name and blessed, in the mouths of Your saints.” And as David said: “Your name is beloved, O Lord; it is my meditation all the day.”
We want God to be in our thoughts and in our hearts continually… and that His benefactions to us be deep in our memory and on our tongues…
God’s work with Moses in the crossing is placed by the Church in the first canticle of her daily midnight praise, so that we may remember God’s help, power, and deliverance, and be comforted and rejoice… and trust in His mighty arm and strong right hand, whatever the enemies may be…
The Church sets for us a spiritual plan that we remember every morning, so that we may walk in it well throughout the day and not forget…
I want you to remember God’s promises, His benefactions, His love, and His commandments, and to write them in your notebooks, hang them in your homes, and keep them in your minds.
There is another matter we should remember and not forget, which is death.
The prophet David says: “Lord, make me to know my end, and what is the measure of my days, that I may know how frail I am.” “Man is like grass; his days are like a flower of the field, so he flourishes. For the wind passes over it, and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more.”
Whenever a person remembers death, he despises life and prepares for his eternity…
And he thinks of God and meeting Him, so the love of God enters his heart. The saints used to place death before their eyes, unlike the rich fool who placed before himself many goods for many years…
At least, if a person cannot remember death continually, let him remember eternity and the other life, and the heavenly Jerusalem.
And let him remember his sojourning on earth, and say to the Lord: “I am a stranger on the earth; do not hide Your commandments from me.”
Thus the earth becomes for you a place of passage, not a place of إقامة, and your dwelling place becomes God Himself…
Another thing you should always remember is your weakness… this makes you humble, cautious, and precise. But alongside it, remember the power of God working in you, which transforms your weakness into strength.
Set before you that sin “has cast down many wounded, and all who were slain by it were strong,” and also remember your past falls; then you will be cautious, avoid stumbling blocks, and increase in prayer so that God’s power may surround you and lead you in the procession of His victory…
Always remember all the things which, by remembering them, your spirit is strengthened and draws closer to God. But beware of remembering things that trouble your spirit, that is, “the remembrance of evil that clothes with death”…
An article by His Holiness Pope Shenouda III – in El-Keraza Magazine – Year Eight (Issue Twenty-Eight), 15-7-1977
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