Remember who you are.

Remember who you are.

I am not the first one to string these words together, even though we have been using the meaning of this phrase in our home for years. After I read these words from a book recently, I thought, yes, that's it....this is what we want to live.

It can mean a multitude of things.....
To our kids-
you are a child of God
you are a son or daughter
you are a grandkid
you are a student and a friend
you are a preacher's kid!

To Brian and me-
child of God
husband or wife
parent
son and daughter
ministry kids
pastor or wife
shepherd and teacher
friend, confidant
counselor
(this is not an exhaustive list!)

But it also means....and most importantly...
you represent God
you represent each other, our family
you represent your workplace, your employer or employees.....
and the list goes on.

Now, hang on....I am NOT saying that you are responsible for all of those people and they are responsible to you, just that by your relationships, you represent each other. Obviously, people are human and we are messy. This is understandable. We don't say this to pressure ourselves to put on a front or be phony.

I'm sure sometimes we would like to say to each other, 'don't go out and do anything stupid and embarrass me!!' But instead of saying that in our family, we chose to be intentional by talking about how to be smart and make the wise choice.

When you step out into the world and we are apart from each other, how do you want to portray your faith and your family? By talking through these things before we are in difficult situations, we keep ourselves from making unwise choices. As we go out the door from one another at home, we often say, 'Remember who you are.' It's simply a reminder to be wise and represent well, for all of us.

In the Old Testament, when a covenant was made, the parties agreed by a sacrifice that if one broke the covenant, death would come to him. Likewise, they understood in that covenant relationship that God would be watching over them. This was not meant to be a protective watch over, but a covenant keeping eye.

One Biblical example is the relationship between Jacob and Laban, found in Genesis 31. This is undoubtedly a relationship of mistrust. When a covenant is made between them, God is their witness and a heap of stones is set up as a memorial. It's a great story and I challenge you to read and study it for yourself.

Genesis 31:49-50 NAS
and Mizpah, for he said, “May the Lord watch between you and me when we are absent one from the other. “If you mistreat my daughters, or if you take wives besides my daughters, although no man is with us, see, God is witness between you and me.”

The word 'mizpah' means to be a watchtower. God is a witness, a watchtower...did you know, He always is? You are not hiding anything from Him.

I want to challenge you and encourage you, remember who you are. When you walk out of the presence of those you love, and to be totally honest, even those you don't....who do you represent and how well do you represent them?

Mizpah...may God watch between you and me while we are apart from each other.

Remember who you are.

m

'But God!'

Spend some time with elementary school kids and you will hear every excuse that ever was offered! Someone else is always to blame. I cannot tell you how many times I have heard students say 'but...but...but' followed by a myriad of excuses.

I hate to admit this, but I can think of many, many times in my life when God has been nudging me to do something and my reply was, 'but God....' followed by some excuse. I wonder what great thing may have happened if I had just obeyed Him instead of trying to justify my reason for disobedience.

Have you ever done that? Maybe you feel pulled in one direction or compelled to involve yourself in something....whether it's related to relationships, parenting, ministry or other situations. The problem is that you keep putting it off, telling yourself, 'it's not for me,' or ' I am not called to that,' or my favorite excuse, 'I am not equipped to lead that.'

I am here to tell you, if God calls you to it, He will see you through it!

The other day during a worship service, we were singing Amazing Grace (My Chains are Gone). I had been pondering and searching my Bible for these words, 'But God.'
The last verse suddenly hit me.....

the earth shall soon dissolve like snow
the sun forbade to shine
but God who calls me here below
will be forever mine.

But God!! He was here before I came into this world and He will be here long after I am gone. He has been taking situations and retelling HiStory all along! But God....
I've found over 40 references of 'but God' in the Word. Here are just a few.

Job 33:28 But God stepped in and saved me from certain death. I’m alive again!
Once more I see the light!

Psalm 54:4 But God is my helper. The Lord keeps me alive!

Luke 16:15. Then He said the them, 'You like to appear righteous in public, but God knows your hearts. What this world honors is detestable in the sight of God.'

Romans 6:23 But God’s gift is real life, eternal life, delivered by Jesus, our Master.

Romans 5:8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

Ephesians 2:4-7 But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

Don't let the 'but God' in your life be the excuse for not obeying what He has called you to do. Instead, let Him finish that sentence working out His will through you.

Be encouraged and don't lose heart, God never gives excuses, and He is always faithful. Be faithful to Him.

Lord Jesus, take my excuses and transform me into Your tool. Use me to reach people and do Your will. Amen.

m