The Power of Remembering
Philippians 4:10–20
No church entered into partnership with me in giving and receiving, except you only. Philippians 4:15

You only! Not only were the Philippians distinguished by the fact that they had remembered Paul in his need—that was significant—they had also been the only ones to remember him.

There is always a special aura about someone who does something for you when only that one has remembered to do it. In his vastly successful book How to Win Friends and Influence People, Dale Carnegie has a section in which he tells of some of the devices he developed for pleasing business acquaintances. One of them was to learn their birthdays. Each year the acquaintances would receive birthday cards from Carnegie. In most cases he was the only one outside of the immediate family who had remembered the man’s birthday. The resulting goodwill was staggering.

I believe that if Dale Carnegie could do that for secular ends to win friends and influence people, Christians ought to be able to do the same type of thing for spiritual ends and to do so sacrificially to win them for Christ.

Do you want real joy in this world, real fruit in your Christian ministry? If so, let me suggest this. Instead of wondering to yourself, as you often do, why people do not treat you better or remember things that are important to you, seek for ways in which you can help them, particularly in those areas in which only you know the problem. God will show you how. The other person will think that no one understands his need or no one is aware of his problem. Then your gift or your word of encouragement will come. He will be overjoyed; and if he is a Christian, he will see it as another way in which God uses people as channels of his faithful provision and blessing. I cannot tell you who the person is whom you could help.

I cannot tell you what the circumstances will be or even what you can do. That will vary. You will have to find it out for yourself. It might be a person in your own family with a unique need, perhaps one of your children who desperately needs someone to do something special for him or her, or your wife or husband who needs understanding. It might be someone at work who thinks that no one cares about him. It might be someone at church. It might be a stranger. It might be a financial need. It might be a word of encouragement. Whatever it is, God will help you to find it if you ask him. And he will give you great joy in being the one who, like the Philippians, did not forget, but remembered.

Taken from Come to the Waters by James Boice ISBN 9798887790954 used with permission from P&R Publishing, Phillipsburg NJ 08865

Scripture quotations are from the ESV (the Holy Bible English Standard Version) copyright 2001 by Crossway a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. All rights reserved.