Tell it to your children, and let your children tell it to their children, and their children to the next generation. Joel 1:3
This is important. This thing matters. You need to hear this. Like George Strait sang, “write this down. Take a little note.” Tell it to your family: your kids, your grandkids, your great-grandkids; your friends, your acquaintances, your co-workers, strangers on the street. I want you and everyone after you to remember and share this.
No it isn’t breaking news from the Web. No, it isn’t the latest from Megan Thee Stallion (or George Strait). No, it isn’t fashionable or trendy or something the cool kids or the glitterati will adore. What “it” is just happens to be a message from God Almighty, spoken through an unknown prophet who had no past and left no record other than the few words recorded in this book. We haven’t yet covered what that message includes; as of verse 3, we only know that Joel has introduced himself, inferred he has something to say that will include locusts, and now that God wants everyone to remember it.
So remember it.
That’s an easy order that’s tough to carry out, especially in a time when so much information is available through a smartphone. Too much information can cloud our perceptions; too little can do the same. God cuts through the fog and tells us, “tell your children”, meaning “this is important.” It’s a simple command, not difficult to understand or accept. And yet, many of us fail to do just that. WE, not He, let the worries of the world or the distractions of the world crowd out our remembering things that are important.
The CEO of my company is big on first principles. He echoes the modus operendi of a man for whom I also worked almost 30 years ago. He, too, believed in core principles, in keeping your core beliefs front and center in all you do. Doing so helps us to stay focused on our mission at hand. For us as followers of Jesus, that mission is to share His words, tough and easy alike, with the rest of the world. Put first things first.
To do that, again, just remember it. Write this down; take a little note. Commit it to memory that, when God says something is important, that it’s important for us to remember it. Memorize when He says this. Read it over and over. Research it for meaning and context. Most important, put it into play and pass it on to others so they can do the same. Megan Thee Stallion and George Strait do that with songs; we should do the same with more important things (like Scripture) because this is important.
For more reading: Exodus 10:2, Psalm 71:18, Joel 1:4
Oh Lord, help me to remember, emphasize, and pass on You holy precepts and Your words.
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