Progressive Amnesia

Free have you received. Freely give. - Jesus, quoted in Matthew 10:8

A lot of folks around City Church tend towards the more progressive side of faith. One of the challenges that we can run into is what Brit Barron calls “Progressive Amnesia.” This is how she describes it:

I think a lot of us suffer from something I call progressive amnesia. We magically and conveniently forget about the time before we came to know what we know now…. Progressive amnesia is the tendency to forget (conveniently!) our own lapses and learning trajectories. It’s what happens when we disconnect from our personal growth histories and allow ourselves to forget our own pasts.
-        Brit Barron, Do You Still Talk to Grandma?

Jesus likes to remind us that the goodness that we’ve experienced with Jesus is also meant to be poured out on others. Over and over he reminds us that we have not arrived. We are not complete. We are simply recipients of grace and goodness and blessing and forgiveness ten thousand other blessings. And these are the things that we get to share with others regardless of where they are on their journey. What this means is that we are called to show this goodness towards those who are not as progressive as we are. Or, as Brit puts it, let’s not give in to Progressive Amnesia, forgetting that we’ve been on our own journey for a long time.

What is stirring in you as you reflect on what Jesus has done for you and on your temptations to forget those things when it comes to how we treat others?