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Remember Me For Good
William Barclay once said, "Joy has nothing to do with material
things,
or with a man's outward circumstance...A man living in the lap of luxury
can be wretched, and a man in the depths of poverty can overflow with
joy."
Joy is a feeling we all would like to have, but for most of us moments
of joy are elusive and brief. How do we get joy?
An English medical missionary, Wilfred Grenfell, explains, "Real
joy
comes not from ease or riches or from the praise of others, but from doing
something worthwhile."
We don't need things to be happy. We need to be busy, doing something
valuable.
What sorts of activities are worthwhile and valuable for us to do?
Peter tells us "how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy
Spirit and with
power;
how he went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed by the
devil,
for God was with him."
We do not have the power to heal but we do have the opportunity to go
"about
doing good." It was the Lord Jesus himself who told us, "And
whoever gives to
one of these little ones even a cup of cold water because he is a disciple,
truly, I say to you, he shall not lose his reward." So the Lord Jesus
demonstrated by his words and by his actions that a worthwhile activity
is to help others
What is a cup of cold water worth? It is not the cost; it is the
thought.
Who do we know that needs a cup of cold water today? To be happy we
need to stop thinking about what we want or have and start thinking about
who
we can help and how. There is someone you know that needs to hear from
you,
not next week, but today. There is someone who would like to see you,
hear
your voice, or read your cheery note.
At the judgment seat, what will matter is not what we own but what we
did.
Are we now doing something worthwhile that the Lord will remember when
we stand before him? It was Nehemiah who said over and over again,
"remember me O my God for good."
Let us decide today to do some good things that
will be remembered. We need to realize that the Lord cannot remember the
good
deeds that we never did. He cannot remember the cups of cold water we
never
gave, the visit to the sick that we did not make, the clothes for the
poor
that still hang in our closet.
The good that we do now has double benefits. It gives us true joy and
happiness in this life right now, and, when Jesus returns, will be
remembered by our Lord when we have to answer to him for what we have
done whether it be good or bad. The good that counts has to be done to
or
for somebody not to some thing. Being good to your home or car may make
it
look or run better but that doesn't count to our Lord. What counts is
the
good we have done to others and for others.
Again there is an old English proverb which says "a sorrow shared
is half a trouble
but joy shared is joy made double."
Right now there is someone who has a sorrow. Be there for them.
In the garden Jesus said to his apostles "My soul is exceeding sorrowful,
even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with me".
But they slumbered and slept when he needed them.
Wake up. Think who needs help and be there. In Esther we read how the
Jews celebrated by turning "sorrow to joy, and from mourning into
a good
day: that they should make them days of feasting and joy, and of sending
portions one to another, and gifts to the poor." Their happiness
was multiplied
by sharing their joy with others. Let us develop true joy in our lives
by
esteeming each other better than ourselves and living to serve the
needs of others.
Then we will feel the joy when "joy shared is joy made double."
"Real joy comes not from ease or riches or from the praise of others,
but from doing something worthwhile." By doing those worthwhile things,
with
Nehemiah we can then say "Remember me, O my God, for good."
Robert J. Lloyd