God seems to give one particular command a lot: Remember.
Multiple times in the Old Testament, His people were reminded of how He saved all the firstborn Israelites by the blood of the lamb over their doors, and how He delivered them at the Red Sea.
Remember how I fed you, protected you, and fought for you.
Remember how I journeyed with you—a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night.
Remember how I fed you manna in the wilderness.
Remember how I sought out a relationship with you even then, telling you to build a tabernacle where my presence would dwell.
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Remember how You were made in my image, created to walk in close communion with Me. You were never designed to walk alone.
Remember how I never forgot you.
The Passover meal—what we now celebrate as communion—was a time of remembrance. Jesus took part in that sacred meal with everyone else, remembering.
As He sat down to that meal with His closest friends the night before His death, He took the same cup they had all been drinking for hundreds of years.
And this is what Jesus said: Do this is in remembrance of Me.
“As they were eating, Jesus took some bread and blessed it. Then he broke it in pieces and gave it to the disciples, saying, ‘Take this and eat it, for this is my body.’ And he took a cup of wine and gave thanks to God for it. He gave it to them and said, ‘Each of you drink from it, for this is my blood, which confirms the covenant between God and his people. It is poured out as a sacrifice to forgive the sins of many'” (Matthew 26:26-28).
Remember the One who makes all things new. Remember how He never left you and never will.
Know that He is here right now in this present moment, making you new as you remember Him.
Remember how Abraham took Isaac to the mountain to be sacrificed, only to experience the aching thrill of joy and relief as a ram caught in the thorns was sent to take his only son’s place? Generations later, our Jesus—with thorns on His head—willingly went to that same mountain range to be our sacrificial lamb, taking the place of us all, once and for all.
No matter what struggles we go through, He is deeply aware and empathetic toward all of them.
“…we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses…”
Hebrews 4:15
He is a good Father and a faithful friend who is intimately acquainted with every detail of our lives (Psalm 139).
Remember how the Lamb of God’s blood has covered us and made everything brand new.
Remember He never left us on our own but left His very presence with us.
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The One who breathed life into us, breathed His last for us, and broke His heart for us is only a breath away. He no longer dwells in a temple made by human hands. He dwells inside human hearts molded by Him.
Remember how far He went to be so close to you.
“Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross . . .” (Hebrews 12:2, emphasis mine).
Remember you are His joy and rest in the joy of an intimate friendship with Him.