“I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, Always in every prayer of mine for you all making request with joy, For your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now; Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ: Even as it is meet for me to think this of you all, because I have you in my heart; inasmuch as both in my bonds, and in the defence and confirmation of the gospel, ye all are partakers of my grace. For God is my record, how greatly I long after you all in the bowels of Jesus Christ. And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment; That ye may approve things that are excellent; that ye may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ; Being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God.” – Philippians 1:3-11 KJV
The affection that Paul had for the Philippians was nothing short of remarkable! He had no ill feelings towards them, but always remembered them in such a way as to bring about feelings of joy within his heart. Thus, he was able to find peace where despair tends to show its ugliness during times of hardship. It would be a wonderful thing to walk into a church and receive such affection from all of God’s children. If every member of the body of Christ would create and hold fast to such memories we would truly be one in spirit and truth, fulfilling the prayer of Jesus who had said, “Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are.” (John 17:11 KJV)
By remembering the good things that God brought into his life Paul was able to find warmth and comfort in a dark and lonely place. And this proves that it makes no difference where we are in life or what our circumstances might be, joy is attainable. It’s simply a matter of embracing it. Sure, Paul could have thought about how badly he was treated for preaching the gospel. He could have even assumed that it wasn’t fair that God allowed him to be imprisoned for being faithful to his calling. After all, people tend to become angry with God and question His love for them for far less. But Paul didn’t do that at all. Instead, he thought about the positive experiences that he had while being among God’s people. In this way he acknowledged the presence of God in His life and was comforted thereby.
What kind of memories are you creating for others? What do you think about most; your problems or your blessings? Do you give the people that you associate with good reason to be joyful when they think about you? Do you manifest the affection of Jesus Christ towards them? These questions are important because they help us to see how much of God’s love we’ve actually embraced.
Indeed, if we would reflect on God’s goodness and enter into fellowship with His people we would certainly find good reason to smile, no matter where we might be in life. But will we choose to make good memories or will we allow the cares of this world to keep us from being joyful? The choice is ours; and we can certainly answer this question by making good memories now!