Remember Your Identity in a Pull-Apart World

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How good are you at remembering? Did you know that remembering who you are is so important to living God’s way? Remembering leads to commitment to the Lord. That leads to sticky faith in a pull-apart world. Did you know there are rewards for sticky faith? This is post #1 in the Ezra to Malachi blog series. In this series, we will cover the last seven written books in the Old Testament—Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi. For you, these posts will show you why remembering who God is and our identity in Him will help us make the choices to follow Him alone regardless of what the world tries to get us to do. Ready?

Listen to this post as a similar podcast from our Identity: Sticking to Your Faith in a Pull-Apart World Bible Study covering the last 7 written books of the Old Testament.

Your Identity Is in the Lord

Identity is a huge topic in our modern world. It was also a huge topic in the ancient world. The Jews were God’s people, chosen specifically by Him to reflect His holiness and represent the true God to the unbelieving world around them. Sadly, many of the Jews forgot to remember their identity as belonging to God and not to the world. They forgot to stick to their faith, so they let themselves be pulled-apart by all the destructive influences of the world around them. The same thing is happening today among believers.

Christians have an identity that says, “Belonging to God.” We are chosen, redeemed from the slavery to sin, adopted as God’s children, and clothed with Christ’s righteousness. We should be the walking, talking, visible representatives of an invisible God.

Yet, we are constantly bombarded with the destructive influences of a world that wants to pull us away from our God in order to do life its way. When we say “Yes” to the world, we become like the ancient Jews who no longer reflected the true God to the unbelieving world around them.

God wants us to say “No” to the pull-apart efforts of the world and stick to our faith in Him. Sticking to our faith is staying true to our faith without letting the world deceive us. That requires remembering who we are and whose we are.

The Bible says this in 1 Corinthians chapter 6:

Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies. (1 Corinthians 6:19-20)

The Old Testament Jews belonged to God. We Christians also belong to God—body and soul. We need to remember that and rely on that for our identity. Our identity is in Christ, not in ourselves, and certainly not in social media.

Remember the Lord

God remembers

The study guide associated with this blog series is called Identity: Sticking to Your Faith in a Pull-Apart World. It picks up with the Babylonian exile and continues through the resettling of the people of Israel back in their homeland. As they returned, God wanted His people to remember who they were and His goodness to them and choose to live life God’s way rather than the world’s way or their own way.

Did you know that the word “remember” is one of the most important words in the Hebrew language? It is used repeatedly throughout the Old Testament especially related to God remembering His promises to His people and acting on them. That feeds hope to anyone who trusts in Him.

God’s people remember

God’s people also need to remember. We are called to remember who God is, what He has done for us, and who we are in God’s hands.

This is important for you to know: Remembering is not passive. It is an action that requires turning your heart to God to listen to Him and to obey Him. It is loving God with all your heart, soul, and mind. The result is that you live differently from those around you who reject God.

Remembering means that you choose not to forget. Psalm 103 says this:

Praise the Lord, my soul, and forget not all his benefits—who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s. (Psalm 103.2-5)

Those are His benefits to us we should remember.

Psalm 77 is another example of what it means to remember God in the midst of challenges that lead to a feeling of despair. The psalmist started in a place of hopelessness, wondering if God is really paying attention. Then he took action to remember God and what He had already done for Him.

This is what he wrote,

Then I thought, “To this I will appeal the years when the Most High stretched out his right hand. I will remember the deeds of the Lord; yes, I will remember your miracles of long ago I will consider all your works and meditate on all your mighty deeds.” Your ways, God, are holy. What god is as great as our God? You are the God who performs miracles; you display your power among the peoples. (Psalm 77:10-14)

His remembering led him back to God. His hope was restored. His joy returned. His despair turned to praise and worship of God again.

Remembering God’s love and grace

Sometimes when things do not go the way you expected or wanted, you can get a hard heart towards God because of your disappointment. Letting your heart get hard towards God is actually rebellion. God addressed that through Isaiah when He said this,

Remember this, keep it in mind, take it to heart, you rebels. Remember the former things, those of long ago; I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me.I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say, ‘My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please.’ (Isaiah 46:8-10)

God has purposes that will stand. You must remember who God is. You must remember His sovereignty, His love, and His grace toward you embodied in Jesus Christ.

Remembering through communion

Think about our practice of sharing communion with our fellow Christians. What is the purpose of doing that? Paul quoted Jesus’ own words about the purpose in 1 Corinthians chapter 11.

For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” (1 Corinthians 11:23-25)

We practice communion to remember who Christ is and what He has done for us.

Dear reader, when you remember the power of God in your life and His promises to you, that sets you free to stop focusing on the “impossible” in your life. Instead, you can focus on the God who does the impossible. He is on His throne. Remembering that will help you to turn your spirit back to God and away from yourself. You make the choice to recommit your heart to the Lord and be willing to trust Him.

Recommit Your Heart to the Lord

The English word “recommit” has a short definition. It means “to entrust or consign again.” Entrust again means that you had previously entrusted a valuable possession to someone or something, and now you choose to do it again. Your life is a valuable possession.

In the Bible, “recommit” is related to repentance and returning to the Lord. It is a reboot—like rebooting your computer to get rid of some corruption. God rebooted Israel after they spent 70 years in exile. He led them to recommit to Him as their only God.

You need to recommit to Him whenever you have been negligent. You need to recommit to Him whenever you are facing challenges that tempt you to follow the world’s way or your own way instead of God’s way.

When Solomon spoke to the people at the dedication of the temple in Jerusalem, this is what he said to those who were listening:

And may your hearts be fully committed to the Lord our God, to live by his decrees and obey his commands, as at this time. (1 Kings 8:61)

When Solomon told the people to be fully committed to the Lord, he used a Hebrew word that means “to be complete, safe, and at peace.” I love that!

A committed heart is at rest because you have already chosen to be devoted to God. You have already chosen to listen to Him and to obey Him. This choice is evident in the lives of the people we will be studying such as Daniel, Ezra, Esther, and Nehemiah. Being committed to God will help you to stick to your faith in our pull-apart world.

Sticking to Your Faith

We live in a pull-apart world. The culture around you continually tempts you to follow its way of doing life. Or it lures you into following your own way of doing life without any regard to God or anyone else having authority over you. Social media, digital media, news presenters, and entertainers lure you into this way of thinking. It is an attitude of rebellion due to self-centeredness that every human has. And it is wrong.

If you made the commitment to follow Christ in dependent obedience yesterday, you will have to make that same choice to live life His way today, tomorrow, and the next day. Sticking to your faith is an ongoing, intentional action. You cannot be passive about this.

In our study, you will see examples of those who did stick to their faith on a continual basis. You will also see examples of those who did not because they were seduced by the world’s way or their own way. Those men and women were living right alongside each other just like we have today. Many Christians today live more like the world than like Christ. They are your neighbors, co-workers, friends, and family members. Pray for them to recommit themselves to God and to live life His way instead of the world’s way or their own way.

King David understood this choice well. He wrote these words in Psalm 37:

Do not fret because of those who are evil or be envious of those who do wrong; for like the grass they will soon wither, like green plants they will soon die away. Trust in the Lord and do good; … Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him and he will do this: He will make your righteous reward shine like the dawn, your vindication like the noonday sun. (Psalm 37:1-6)

Committing your way and trusting in the Lord is sticking to your faith. There are rewards for sticky faith—a righteous reward that David said shines like the dawn. For the one who returns to the Lord after straying away for a time, that reward is a restored relationship with God as well as the strength to say “No” to the destructive influences of the world.

The Rewards for Sticky Faith

Restored relationship

I love that word “restore.” It means “to bring back to or put back into a former or original state.” It is asking God to repair and to refresh your relationship with Him.

While Jerusalem was being crumpled and its people dragged off into captivity for their sinful behavior, Jeremiah asked God to restore the people. This is what Jeremiah prayed in Lamentations chapter 5,

Restore us to yourself, Lord, that we may return; renew our days as of old. (Lamentations 5:21)

“Restore us to yourself”—that is having a relationship with the God of the universe. “Return, renew”—those are words of recommitment. Remembering God and His love for you and recommitting to His way of doing life will lead to restoring any missing communion with the Lord. Our God is a restorer, and He makes us strong enough to say “no” to the destructive influences around us.

Saying “No” to destructive influences

The Apostle Peter addressed this in his first letter. Peter wrote to Christians who were being pulled away from God by the destructive influences of their world. This is what God through Peter said to them and to us,

Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings. And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you, and make you strong, firm and steadfast. To him be the power for ever and ever. Amen. (1 Peter 5:8-11)

This world is hostile to God and to everyone who aligns herself with God. That is a fact. But God has your back. You can trust Him. The God of all grace, who knows you, who has called you through Christ, will restore you and make you able to stick firmly to Him in the midst of a pull-apart world.

In the Old Testament, God sent prophets, priests, and leaders to help His people remember who they were and His goodness toward them. As you study Old Testament books, look for the appeal to the Jews to remember God and to recommit their ways to His ways so they will stick to their faith. Look for the promise of a restored relationship with God and the blessings of obedience to Him.

For You to Remember

Christian, remember who you are and the wonderful things God has done for you through your faith in His Son Jesus Christ. If you have been pulled away from God by the world’s destructive influences, recommit to doing life God’s way rather than the world’s way or your own way. Stick to your faith. And enjoy the blessings of belonging to God and living obediently to Him.

Let me leave you with three questions to ponder as you begin this study.

What do you need to remember about God, His goodness to you, and your identity in Him?
In what areas of life have you been pulled apart from God by the destructive influences of the world?
Are you willing to trust Him and follow His way of living your life?

In the next blog, you will learn the two aspects of trusting God and how that helps you to flourish in every way.

Let Jesus satisfy your heart with complete trust in Him so that you will follow His way of living life instead of the world’s way or your own way.

All of the above information is covered in the Identity: Sticking to Your Faith in a Pull-Apart World Bible Study covering the last 7 written books of the Old Testament.

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