What do you do to remind yourself of what’s important? Those of us who are married wear a wedding band to remind us of the sacred covenant we made with our spouse before God. In my church tradition, our spiritual community receives communion once a month to remind us of the sacrifice that Jesus made on the cross to redeem us, parents go through a child dedication ceremony as a reminder that the child in their arms is on loan from God, and converts go through the waters of baptism to remind themselves and the world that they now belong to Jesus. Reminders are a holy thing. Not that the symbol or the ceremony is in itself holy, but the act is holy in the sense that it reminds us of God’s right over all that we are and all that we possess. Keeping that perspective is arguably the most important spiritual priority that we as believers have. Reminders help us to keep the main thing the main thing, namely, that the Lord himself is our life.
The Journey // Focus: Numbers 15:37-41
Then the Lord said to Moses, “Give the following instructions to the people of Israel: Throughout the generations to come you must make tassels for the hems of your clothing and attach them with a blue cord. When you see the tassels, you will remember and obey all the commands of the Lord instead of following your own desires and defiling yourselves, as you are prone to do. The tassels will help you remember that you must obey all my commands and be holy to your God. I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt that I might be your God. I am the Lord your God!”
What do you do to remind yourself of what’s important? In the days before smartphones with pings that remind us of calendar events, some people would tie a string around their finger as a reminder of an upcoming appointment. Those of us who are married wear a wedding band to remind us of the sacred covenant we made with our spouse before God. In my church tradition, our spiritual community receives communion once a month to remind us of the sacrifice that Jesus made on the cross to redeem us. We also take people through membership classes to remind them of their commitment to God and their part in Missio Dei of our church; parents go through a child dedication ceremony as a reminder that the child in their arms is on loan from God; converts go through the waters of baptism to remind themselves and the world that they now belong to Jesus.
Reminders are a holy thing. Not that the symbol or the ceremony is in itself holy, but the act is holy in the sense that it reminds us of God’s right over all that we are and all that we possess. Keeping that perspective is arguably the most important spiritual priority that we as believers have. Reminders help us to keep first things first, the main things the main things, namely, that the Lord himself is our life.
And reminders are not just human inventions, mnemonic devices that we, either by being legitimately creative or patently corny, conjure up to assist our faulty memory. Reminders are God invented. Throughout Scripture God called his people to set up reminders of his covenant, his provision, his intervention, his holiness and his grace-filled love: stones of remembrance, holy days and sacred feasts, sacrifices and ceremonies. In this particular story, God called his people to do something that we might consider quirky, if not silly, with their clothing: they were to attach blue tassels to the hem of their clothing.
Now in our day and age of high fashion and advanced textile processes, this doesn’t impress us. In fact, it seems rather cultish, typical of what those strange orthodox Jews do. But keep in mind the time and setting of the people of Israel. Attaching blue tassels was no simple thing. It required extra effort and skill. It also offered the one who made the garment a chance to display some fashion artistry, and the one who wore it to be a bit of a fashion plate—all in the best sense of artistry and fashion. But mainly it was a reminder of something special.
For one thing, wearing the blue tassels reminded the people that they were special. In the ancient world, clothing was essentially plain, unless you were a person of standing. It could have meant that the wearer was a priest or royalty. The tasseled clothing identified that person within their communities and to the outside world as something special. In this case, the Israelites were being distinguished by God as his very special and treasured possession.
But for another reason, the tasseled clothing reminded the wearer and the watcher that God was special. While we wearing clothing to draw attention to ourselves, in this case, God wanted them to wear clothing to draw attention to himself. Specifically, the effect that it was to produce in drawing their attention to God was that he had ownership over their lives, and as a result, deserved their complete and continual obedience and demanded from them a lifestyle of holiness. Listen to how God himself instructed them:
The tassels will help you remember that you must obey all my commands and be holy to your God. I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt that I might be your God. I am the Lord your God!
The point being, God still wants our obedience and our holiness. He still desires and deserves that we live in continual awareness that we are his, that we belong to him. And furthermore, times have not changed since the days of the wilderness journey in the sense that we still forget this most important truth, and therefore still need to set up regular reminders that God is special, and since he has chosen us to be his own, has called us serve his purposes on earth, and has consecrated us in holiness to be his distinct people, we are special, too.
So the question is, as much as you have good intentions not to forget this, what can you do as a regular reminder that you are God’s and God is yours? I am not suggesting blue tassels or a string around your finger or a ping on your smartphone, but it might be as simple as using your weekly worship attendance to recalibrate your thoughts toward what makes you so special.
If you don’t like my idea, and can’t come up with your own, go get some blue thread!
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