What is the Content of Your Memorabilia?

Joshua 4:7
tell them that the flow of the Jordan was cut off before the ark of the covenant of the LORD. When it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. These stones are to be a memorial to the people of Israel forever.”

Memorabilia are things we collect to remind us of experiences, places, people, and events. There are pictures we take and treasure as memorabilia. Clothe items that trigger the memory of someone or a place are memorabilia. Artifacts can also be memorabilia. What is critical is that they are associated with a certain memory.

Memory is significant and unforgettable if it was either very good or very bad. We don’t forget what hurt us so much. We never forget what made us feel so good. Therefore, whatever memorabilia we have triggers either good or bad recollections.

In our text today, God tells Joshua to have memorabilia. National memorabilia. A collection that will trigger the memory of everyone in the nation. When dealing with memorabilia, it is not about what is collected but what memory is triggered. The item may be cheap but it carries the best memories ever that no money can buy. The memorabilia may be extremely expensive but its memory is pain that is so deep that one’s life span is shortened.

Israelites were to collect stones from the river bed of Jordan. Stones, yes, ordinary stones. These stones were to be heaped together so that they serve as a reminder of the day when God stopped River Jordan at its flooded stage so that Israelites can safely cross. This was a memory of the good things that God did for them. These memorabilia was about the goodness of God to Israelites. Whenever they would see this pile of stones they were to remember that God has been good to them.

Joshua was a new leader. Moses a great leader who led for forty years had died. God did not command any memorabilia for Moses’s death. Aaron died and no memorabilia of his death. Israelites had some disasters but no memorabilia. God deliberately wanted only good memories for His people. Only memorabilia that sent the mind to God’s goodness was preserved. What is the content of your memorabilia?

Genesis 12:7
The LORD appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land. ” So he built an altar there to the LORD, who had appeared to him.

Genesis 23:19-20
(19) Afterward Abraham buried his wife Sarah in the cave in the field of Machpelah near Mamre (which is at Hebron ) in the land of Canaan. (20) So the field and the cave in it were deeded to Abraham by the Hittites as a burial site.

Whenever God appeared to Abraham, he built an altar as memorabilia. But when his wife died, there were no memorabilia of this painful experience. Thoughts that trigger pain are not to be our portion. What has hurt us needs to be let go. We must let pain vanish. We become better people if our thoughts are positive and good. What is the content of your memorabilia?

Jacob had memorabilia of God appearing to him in a staircase dream of angels and all-night wrestling. Jacob had painful moments but there are no memorabilia for that. The Bible is consistent on what we should commit to memory. What is the content of your memorabilia?

The Bible doesn’t dwell on the gory details of the persecution of the early church. The Bible focuses on the triumph of the church amidst persecution. The Bible doesn’t dwell on the painful future persecution but on the glorious eternal life awaiting us. What is the content of your memorabilia?

It is clear therefore that God wants us to keep the positive, the good for memory, and discard the painful and bad. God wants us to remember His good works in our lives and not the low moments. What is the content of your memorabilia?

What memorabilia are you collecting in memory of your school days? What memorabilia are you collecting in memory of your business days and employment days? What memorabilia are you collecting in memory of your years in dating and courtship? Is it memorabilia that will scare you and make you fear the other gender? What memorabilia are you collecting in memory of your marriage and parenting? What memorabilia are you collecting from the home where you were brought up? What is the content of your memorabilia?

God was silent on bad memories, in order to let them go, but on good memories, He commanded His people to have memorabilia. May God help us to discard what should go and to have memorabilia of what should stay as God has commanded. Save us from addiction to bad memories of loss and hurt. Help us, dear God, to build memorabilia of Your goodness, victory, and happiness we have found in you, in Jesus’ name, Amen!

NB A sermon based on this message is available on Rei Kesis YouTube Channel. It is titled – Memories should be made of these ONLY! https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=TzWHhEYDAKY&feature=youtu.be

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3. Rei Kesis daily blog –https://reikesis.com/