A friend of mine was recently talking about the terrorist attacks of September, 11, 2001. He said he did not like seeing pictures of those horrible events, but he felt like he had to look at them occasionally so that he would never forget what happened. He has to remember.

When we consider the salvation that we have in Jesus, we don’t like to think about the brutal way Jesus was killed in order that we could receive forgiveness of our sins. It pains us to picture in our minds the wounds that Jesus endured—the pain that he suffered as he hung on the cross to pay the price for our sins.

Yet we must think about it, or else we might forget.

That’s what we do when we take communion. The bread that we eat reminds us of his body that was broken for us. The cup reminds us that his innocent blood was shed so that the sins of humanity could be taken away.

We have to remember.

“And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, ‘This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.’ In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.’”—Luke 22:19-20.