Remember the Alamo

"Remember the Alamo!" The words of General Sam Houston on April 21, 1836, as he led 800 Texans soldiers to victory against Santa Anna's Mexican force of approximately 1,500 men at San Jacinto in under 20 minutes. The lesson for us: Sometimes the memory of sacrifice for a cause encourages you to stand strong in your own battles.

Paul said in 2 Corinthians 10:3-5, "For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ."

Our memories can drive us to amazing obedience, or they can paralyze us with fear, or even cause us to become obstinate to any kind of change. But just as Paul reminded Timothy of the gift he’d been given (which was all possible through what Jesus did on the cross), we too should be reminded of what fills us now. 2 Timothy 1:7, “For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline.”

Jesus wanted us to remember His sacrifice on the cross and how that act could motivate us to unity within His body. Before His arrest, Jesus prayed, “I have given them the glory You gave Me, so they may be one as We are one. I am in them and You are in me. May they experience such perfect unity that the world will know that You sent Me and that You love them as much as You love Me” (John 17:22-23). Later Paul would remind us how what Jesus did on the cross would help us be unified. He said in 1 Corinthians 11:23-24, “For I pass on to you what I received from the Lord Himself. On the night when He was betrayed, the Lord Jesus took some bread and gave thanks to God for it. Then He broke it in pieces and said, “'This is My body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of Me.'”

Jesus, “the Lamb of God who has come to take away the sins of the world” (John 1:29), gave His body so that we could have a new body IN HIM. The power of that memory motivates us, or it should, to do everything in our power to honor the will of the Father. Having that powerful memory of God’s unwavering love can be the strength we need to keep going in life.

Romans 8:39, “No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.”