Daily devotional, Jan 01, 2024 Bring Home
"For we brought nothing into the world, andwe cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content."
1 Timothy 6:7-8
In any Filipino house party, you can be sure that there is at least one guest that will be given a “BH” pack. BH stands for “Bring Home” food, which is usually surplus food from the party buffet. In some parties, party hosts even prepare zip lock bags and microwaveable containers to happily give away to their guests so they could take home food to eat in their house and share with others.
Apart from Bring Home or BH food, guests also bring with them happy memories of the party. Fun conversations, party activities, and catching up with friends and relatives are memories that are best cherished.
If we live our lives right, and follow Jesus, we Christians can bring with us too beautiful memories to take home to eternity. We can always choose to fill our hearts with testimonies of Christ’s faithfulness in our lives, happy moments with loved ones, successes in carrying out the Lord’s mission for us, and stories of deliverance. This way once God calls us to eternal life, we have a good BH to take home with us, and at the same time we can leave something behind to our loved ones:
"I will remember the deeds of the Lord; yes, I will remember your wonders of old.I will ponder all your work, and meditate on your mighty deeds.Your way, O God, is holy. What god is great like our God? You are the God who works wonders; you have made known your might among the peoples."
Psalm 77:11-14
As we start a new year, we can always choose to leave unpleasant memories behind. Let us retain only the ones that brought smiles to our faces. Once we have learned from them, let us consciously cut out bad memories, and edit out painful ones so that we can reduce resentment in our hearts.
For instance, when people hurt us, and we have forgiven them, let us start forgetting about their wrongdoing. For some, forgiving may be easier than forgetting the deed, but we can always move past by drawing strength through Christ’s power and mercy. We can try retraining our minds to only remember our happy experiences with people who have wronged us.
St. Paul the Apostle reminded the Philippian Church to turn away thoughts from negative occurrences and just focus on pleasant truths and memories:
“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” Philippians 4:8
Like decluttering our home for the new year to eliminate unneeded things, garbage, as well as surpluses, let us remove from our minds unnecessary memories that hurt us and make our hearts heavy. Our hearts should only be a vessel of love for the Lord, love for others, and loving memories that our Almighty Father has lovingly gifted us.
Thank you for reading through our devotional today. I invite you to ponder on Philippians 3:13-14, Proverbs 10:7, and Matthew 6:19-24 to dig deeper on today’s topic.
Reflection Question: What kind of memories do you plan to treasure in your heart this new year?
Conversation with the Lord: Almighty Father, thank you for another year. Please give me the confidence to store up good, happy and pleasant memories in my heart, as I journey through the rest of 2024. Amen.