Personalized

Have you seen where an online merchant lets you know they want to buy back what you’ve purchased, and they’ll credit your account? What if you’ve written your name on it? What if you’ve scratched whatever it was? Sometimes I put my name in books, for example, as soon as they arrive. Couldn’t “sell” those back. They’ve been personalized. The other day I was on a site, and they had a picture of a familiar little Bible I’d purchased from them. I haven’t written my name in the Bible. I used a sticky note and included my address. Why? Because if this little Bible ever gets lost, I want it back. Please mail it to me. ;) 

Why do I prize this Bible so much? I’ve already underlined lots of Scriptures, dating them as I “find” them or as God speaks to me through them. I’ve been marking up my Bibles like this for years—with dates and colorful underlining. This process is very important to me, not just for convenience so I can find the verses later, but because the underlined words testify about a moment in my life. 

Years ago, God showed me that all those dated passages, all those notes, all those colorful underlined markings were memorials before Him. They’re memorials to me too. But I was so blessed to know God took them so seriously. He values my time in His Word. Now, we knew that, right? But to that extent? That He calls those moments, these personalized markings, memorials? Amazing. Makes me want to spend more time in the Word. Drop everything, it’s time to “build” a memorial before the Lord. 

How does God feel about memorials? Here’s an example of how seriously He takes these:

“Your prayers and your alms have come up for a memorial before God.” (Acts 10:4b NKJV)

Acts 10 describes a devout non-Jewish man named Cornelius who gave to the poor and prayed “continually.” His merciful deeds and prayers which may have gone seemingly unnoticed here on earth “built a memorial before God.” And because of that memorial, God acted on his behalf.

So, all those markings in my Bible not only remind me of devotional, prayer, prophetic, or study times with God, they “remind” God. Knowing that builds my faith. Knowing that assures me of God’s astounding grace. 

So, thanks but no thanks. I will not be selling this little Bible back for credit. It’s worth too much to me now. It’s been personalized. And through it, God’s Word has become more personal to me. Memorialized. And you can’t put a price on that.