Tag: messianic

The hopeful and the hopeless

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I like the comic Pearls. I appreciate the humor, although it is edgy. I must confess, I associate more with Rat than I do with Goat.

The other day there was one where Rat is drinking at their favorite hangout and Goat asks why he drinks so much (Rat likes beer- I can’t stand beer.  I just don’t trust something that looks the same going in as it does coming out) and Rat answers that he isn’t sure about life or God and you never know until it’s too late (or something to that effect- I left the strip at home this week and I am in Tampa at a training class.) When Goat, who is the more logical and elitist of the characters, hears what Rat says, the next panel has Goat also drinking and saying, “We should do this more often.”

It’s funny, but it is also sadly true of so many of us. Not the drinking part so much as the hopelessness that many people feel. Especially those that refuse to accept God’s existence as real, and also for those that refuse to make a decision about God.

When I say they refuse to make a decision, that is exactly what I mean- they hem and haw, think He probably does exist, or (as I heard yesterday) they believe in Him but not in the religious teachings they grew up with so they just make up their own religion. They believe in God and Yeshua as their Messiah, but it stops there. The laws, regulations and way God says they should live are left to be thrown away with the religious teachings. This is sad and I have seen it more than once, haven’t you? People get fed up with the religious traditions and teachings so ignore all the rules and laws God gave us, lumping them all together with “religion” so that they are, in essence, throwing the baby out with the bathwater. {Isn’t that a great, old expression?}

God is the only real hope any of us have, and refusing to accept Him means that you are hopeless. Not so much you, the person, but your existence as a person has no hope. Oh, sure…there is luck, there is chance, and there is (this is really the case) God taking care  of you even when you reject His very existence because He is, well, He is God, and that’s how He rolls. He loves you whether you love Him back or not, and He will take care of you, even if you are a sinner. Remember we are told that Yeshua died for us even though we were sinners. He didn’t wait until we “earned” His sacrifice, He died because we could never earn His sacrifice. I have heard it said that “mainstream” Judaism has explained, as one of the reasons the Messiah hasn’t come, that we are too sinful to be worthy of the Messiah. How could such intelligent and learned people miss by so far the purpose of their own Messiah? Nu- if we were worthy of being brought into the very presence of the Lord, we wouldn’t need a Messiah! DUH!!

Back to the hopeless…all I can feel is sadness and pity on those that reject God, and his laws. His laws are what make life good, they lead us in ways that will bring us closer to God and to each other, and they are so simple and functional. They are, as is God, perfect. If we just hold on to them and follow them we will have a wonderful society, we will care for each other, and every Miss America since the 1950’s will finally get their wish- we will have peace on Earth.

If you know someone who is hopeless (maybe it’s you?) please introduce them to the founder and provider of hope- God. And tell them of the hope we get from Him that came to us in human form, Yeshua the Messiah. Hope is, in and of itself, ethereal and intangible. Yeshua is the hope of the world, and He was very tangible; He was real flesh and blood. He was, and is, a physical representation of the hope we have in God. Accepting Him as your Messiah is receiving hope, which gives you the power to continue in any situation.

Shaul said when he is weak, that is when he is strong because, as Yeshua said, with God all things are possible. That is what hope is- the belief that something is possible. When we have our hope in God, then anything, and everything, is possible. If the only source we have is in chance, or luck, well…in reality, we have no hope. Hope needs something more than randomness to be of any value- it needs to be based in something. A buoy in the water is a marker that identifies where it is safe to go, and it gives the ship’s pilot the hope of  reaching the shore safely. If that buoy isn’t anchored on rock or solidly in the ocean bed, it can’t offer any hope because it is not stable.

God is totally stable- He was, He is, and He always shall be, never changing and eternally powerful and trustworthy. That’s the kind of buoy I want to navigate by. That’s the kind of hope my decision has given me- hope that is always, always, always there for me.

Is that the kind of hope you have? If so, shout out, “Hallelujah!!”  If not, please consider taking stock of your life, making a decision to decide, and join the club.

God has been waiting for you and has a healthy, heaping helping of hope, just for you.

No Pain; No Gain

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Having been very active in sports during High School, and throughout my life, I have a deep and intimate understanding of the title for today’s Drash.

It’s not wise to hurt yourself, but when you push your muscles to their limit, you will feel it over the next couple of days. It is a “good” hurt because, although having sore muscles does hurt, it represents that you have done a good job, you pushed yourself to the limits of your ability, and (so far as physical exercise is concerned) that means you will gain more muscle and endurance.

Real muscle grows when you destroy it. When you feel that “burn” and your muscle is “pumped”, the excess blood flow that causes that feeling is going there in order to help the destroyed tissue. The destroyed tissue isn’t just replaced; the body builds more tissue than there was originally. That is how body-builders get those large muscles (even without the ‘roids’). The constant destroying of muscle and careful rebuilding through proper diet and rest results in larger and stronger muscles, with greater endurance.

Faith is a spiritual muscle that we need to work with, every day. And, just like biceps, pecs and abs, we need to push it to it’s limits; indeed, we need to destroy it so that we can rebuild it to be stronger and more enduring. The way we exercise our faith is to live  in a way that pushes us to do more than we want to do. In other words, we need to force ourselves to get outside our spiritual comfort zone.

Get more involved in activities at the place where you worship, witness to friends and family, even strangers, more often. Risk their disapproval. Go on mission trips, help the homeless and needy, volunteer, just get off your butts and do something that takes faith. Pray more often (see my section on Prayer for some ideas about that), read the Bible more often, trust more often (oh, that is a hard one). And here’s the really difficult one: forgive more often, and more completely.

Exercise your faith by using it. I gave you some ideas above, but I don’t know what you need to do. I don’t know where your faith is weak…but you do. You know what makes you feel uncomfortable, you know what you don’t like to do, and you know what God is telling you to do. Finally: it’s all about you now.

Search your heart, seek those things that God tells us we should all be doing and that you know you don’t do, and do it!

That’s pushing your spiritual muscles to the limit. And just like the professionals, rest and eat properly. The proper diet is to read the Word of God (Man doesn’t live on bread alone but every word from the mouth of God) for food to nourish your spirit, and rest through intimate and private prayer time with the Lord. Prayer is refreshing to both your soul and your spirit, and even to your physical body.

So get on out there and work those spiritual muscles! Feel the burn, get pumped; Yeshua worked His spiritual muscles completely and showed us how we are to do it. Stop being a Weakling of Worship, and become a Schwarzenegger of Spirit!

Remember: Yeshua was the first one to say, “I’ll be back!”

How to Feel Better

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Dontcha hate the blues? Not the music genre, the feeling.

All humans get down-in-the-dumps sometimes. It might be the effect of the moon on us, maybe it’s a biorhythm down cycle, maybe it’s too little coffee, maybe it’s too much coffee. Maybe it’s stress from work or kids, or not having a job to go to, or not having kids you wanted. Maybe it’s really bad- a death of a loved one, a sudden tsuris in your life. Maybe you just feel like *&%#.

Whatever the reason, we all feel “blue” now and then. Some people have a real hard time with it, and others get over it quickly.

It is a very individual thing, but all agree it stinks.

There is a way to get over the blues. It isn’t from some hokey television infomercial, or best-selling Self Help book. It’s simple, it’s something anyone can do, and it always works.

It’s giving praise to God and worshipping Him with thankful prayer.

Whoa!! Stop the music!! Steve- you are talking about being sad, feeling blue, hate-the-world-and-everyone-in-it! And now you say, in the midst of that deep, dark funk I am supposed to be thankful? Vas bist du? Meshuggah?

No, I’m not crazy. Well, maybe…but not about this. Praising God and giving thanks to Him requires us to think about what we have to give thanks for. That takes emotional energy and concentration. That makes us think of something different than our meager and petty issues (because compared to Eternal joy in the presence of the Almighty, our current issues are just that- petty and meager) and gets us thinking about what we do have.

Praise has power that is hidden from us until we begin to use it. Praise reminds us of who we are- the children of the Almighty! Praise brings back to our minds all He has done in our lives, and the lives of others. When we praise the Lord we can’t help but become joyful, for His spirit is awakened in us as we call on His name in thanksgiving. The best way to get out of the dumps is to count your blessings, and that is a form of praise.

Praise is powerful. How? When you are as low as you think you could ever feel, do what I suggest- give praise to God. Thank Him for your salvation, think of all that Yeshua did so you can be with God eternally. Think of what the prophets did to try to save the people, think of the things you do have, of how God has interceded in your life. I guarantee if you sincerely think of all that God has done for you, of all He has planned for you, and how little whatever you are going through now will seem when you are with the Lord, you will start to feel better.

I am not saying what you are going through is nothing- please don’t think I am maligning how you feel. What I am trying to point out is that no matter how bad you feel, and I accept that you do feel bad and what you are going through is bad, it is still true that paise will make you feel better, and isn’t that a powerful thing?

To give thanks, to worship praise-fully, takes thought and effort. Especially when you feel bad. It redirects our self-pitying thoughts to worshipful thoughts. It transfixes our concentration to think of all God has done, and brings forward  thoughts of good things and joy, pushing back and out of the way the dark, mournful thoughts of depression. It removes us from ourselves and places us before the Throne of the King: in supplication we find ourselves in the blissful light of the Almighty instead of the dark and dank throes of remorsefulness. Prayer- thankful and praising prayer- lifts us up to the very feet of the Lord of Hosts, and we cannot feel blue when we are in the presence of the King of Kings.

Next time you are sad and forlorn, don’t sulk in self-pity. As the old song says, take the hand of the hand of the man who stilled the waters. Welcome Yeshua into your pity-party, take His hand (which is always opened to you) and let Him lead you out of the darkness and back into the light. Give praise to God, thank God for all you have, and when you are bathed in praise and worship, you won’t be wallowing in self-pity and remorse.

The next time depression knocks you down, let Yeshua lift you up.

The Lone Ranger, the Bible and Fruit

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Remember the Lone Ranger? He stood for right and justice in a world where it was not always found. He travelled all over, and helped those who sought out what he stood for- righteousness, fair treatment, justice, and also compassion, forgiveness and tolerance (his best friend was a Native American at a time when they were not accepted in society.)

I often think of him when I think of the Gospel verse about the man who approached Yeshua and said he wanted to follow Him. Yeshua told him that the fox has it’s hole and the bird has its nest, but the Son of Man doesn’t even have a rock upon which to lay His head. In other words, there is no rest, no place of comfort, no vacation spot for Yeshua during His time on Earth- He is to wander and expose Himself and the B’rit Chadashah (Good News) to everyone He can.

Like the Lone Ranger, Yeshua travelled around, looking for those in the dark seeking light, spreading love, compassion and tolerance (not as we mean tolerance today. Today it means allowing others to sin while you say it’s OK. Yeshua’s tolerance is the kind that lets you hate the sin but love the sinner.) And all in a world and a society sadly lacking those things. He didn’t stay in any one place for long, and although He did have places He revisited He was always on the move.

There is another thing that I think of when I think of the Lone Ranger. This may seem a little far-fetched (actually, really far-fetched) but I also think of pruning a vine. Yeah, I know- Huh??  The Lone Ranger and a vine?

Yes, the Lone Ranger and a vine. And the Bible, too! When a vine is fruitful and produces a lot of good fruit, what do you do with it? That’s right- you prune it, and replant it so that it becomes a bigger vine, producing more fruit. The Lone Ranger was a fruitful vine, producing justice and compassion, and he was transplanted every time he finished cleaning up the bad guys. Yeshua was a fruitful vine, also. Probably the most fruitful vine there ever was!

I can see it now: a desert town, the bad guys taking over and misleading the residents, teaching them traditions over the word of God, using unfair weights and tithing little but taking everyone else’s tithes for themselves. In rides Yeshua, with His trusty companion, Torah. He tells the truth, He shines light on the darkness and leads some of the people back to God. He does away with the wrong teaching by teaching what God really wants, then He leaves and goes to find more darkness. Hiyo, Righteousness…away!!!

Well, maybe not.

There is a lesson here, somewhere. I believe that lesson is if you want to be a fruitful vine, which (by the way) we should all want to be, you need to be prepared to be pruned. You will never realize the fullness of your gifts from God or the fullness of your influence on others for God if you stay in one place. That may not mean moving around geographically, so much as spiritually. We can grow in spiritual maturity and, thereby, produce more fruit without having to renew our passport. On the other hand, we may need to physically relocate, or travel. Maybe go on a trip to some Third World country to do missionary work, maybe just go down the road to help in a homeless shelter. Maybe just go to your place of worship more often to intermingle and edify those there that need help.

The fruitful vine is pruned so that it will be able to do more. Pruning is not fun- you are cut away from your roots, replanted in a new place and you need to grow new roots. You need to start all over again, and all you have going for you is the strength you took with you. You are dependant on the gardener to provide you with good soil, water and protection from the elements until you have put out strong roots. Once you have, and you produce fruit again, you will be allowed to stay there and grow. At some time, not by your choosing, the gardener will prune you, again, and it starts all over.

This doesn’t sound like fun. And, in many ways, it isn’t. When you are working for God, you can never settle into a comfort zone. At least, not for long. As long as you are producing fruit, you need to understand that you will be pruned. Maybe that’s why Yeshua said  we need to pick up our own execution stake and follow Him. As long as we are with Yeshua we will be against the World, which is a cursed and unrighteous place. The good we do is the water for our soul, the light in the darkness we bring is the fruit we provide, and the word of God is the soil we are planted in, which nourishes us.

Let’s all try to be a Lone Ranger for God, a fruitful vine, a person who brings righteousness and justice to those that seek it. Also, let’s all be prepared to be pruned, and willingly go where God leads us to do His work.

It won’t be easy, but the rewards will be greater than anything you can imagine.

Here Come Da Judge!!!

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I have to start my day with the newspaper. Not the news, mind you- that is always the same, always bad, and useless to me. I like the Crossword, the Word Jumble and Cryptograms.  This morning the Scram-Lets (you unscramble words, pull out the specified letters and then unscramble them to complete a corny statement) had the statement,”Our days are happier when we give people a bit of our heart rather than a piece of our mind.”

It reminded me of a silly joke:

A man got a flat tire and was in front of an asylum for the insane, changing the tire. One of the inmates was standing at the fence watching as the man took off the bad tire and put the lug nuts in the hubcap. After putting on the spare tire, he reached for the hubcap and accidentally knocked it, sending all the lug nuts down a drain. He sat, dejected, not knowing what to do. That’s when the inmate said, “Hey, Pal- why not take one lug nut off each of the other three tires and use them for the spare, since you can safely drive with three lug nuts. As soon as you come to an auto store you can buy 4 lug nuts to replace the missing ones.”

The man was amazed, and said, “That’s a great idea! What are you doing in there?”  The inmate answered,”Hey, I may be crazy but I’m not stupid!”

So, nu? What do these two things have in common, and why the reference to Sammy Davis, Jr.’s well-known schtick from Laugh-In?

It’s all about judging people. The Manual tells us not to judge, lest we ourselves will be judged, but it also tells us that we will judge the nations. Seems sort of contradictory, doesn’t it? Don’t judge others but judge the nations?

In fact, it is not contradictory, but edifying. Saying we are not to judge others lest we be judged is telling us that the way we judge people is how we, ourselves, will be judged by God. That means think about what you are thinking about! By careful to observe, make sure you have facts and witnesses that are trustworthy, and alway, always, always use mercy when coming to a decision. Just the same way that God judges us.

The Scram-Lets statement shows mercy and restraint, allowing love and compassion to intercede where prideful judgement may be starting to rear it’s ugly head. And the story about the man with the flat tire shows that we can’t tell about a person simply by their environment, or what their situation may be at that time. People in jail for committing a crime may have done T’Shuvah and are now ready to be useful and good citizens. People who have had drug problems, or friends who have hurt us, may have cleaned themselves up, asked for forgiveness and turned from hurtful ways.

I am not saying forgive everyone and trust them again, Forgiveness is something we are commanded to do, but trust needs to be earned. If someone stole from me, and asked forgiveness, I may allow them back into my life, but I won’t leave them alone in my house. There is a difference between being a compassionate and forgiving person, and being an idiot. As Scotty said in Star Trek all those years ago, “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me!”

To judge the nations we need to start small, so let’s start with ourselves. Judge how you judge. Look at yourself, try as best you can to be honest and impartial, and determine if you judge based on what you see and hear, or how you react to the situation. Make sure you remove that log from your eye, first. If someone does something that you find personally disgusting, are they already guilty? Maybe they are; however, that determination should not be from your personal feelings but from the facts. I have been at the wrong end of what I called a “Kangaroo Court”, where I was actually told I might be written up at work for sexual harassment. I asked about the facts, and was told that the HR Department had done a thorough investigation. I asked how could they say that, since no one asked me about it? I thought a thorough investigation meant asking all parties involved, especially the one accused. Seems that all they needed was someone to complain and a complete statement, and that’s all it took for the accused to be found guilty.

(For the record, the witness never even made a formal complaint or wrote a statement. In fact, what happened was someone in the cafeteria, who didn’t even work for the company, was listening to another conversation and thought they heard my name mentioned by the other people who were talking. They thought they heard them relate a joke I had supposedly told and the eavesdropper/complainer thought that someone could have thought that joke might be unacceptable. That was my terrible crime. And the entire process didn’t even meet the company’s standards and practices outlined in their own Personnel Manual. It all boiled down to nothing, other than the HR Director having so little useful work that she had to fly off the handle and over-react, hoping she had a nice, juicy sexual harassment case to process.)

The Bible tells us that we need at least two witnesses. This is in relation to capital crimes, but I think it is a good rule for any time one person is claiming a wrong against another person. Of course, there aren’t always going to be witnesses, which is why it is so important for us to learn how to judge rightly, or maybe I should say, righteously.

Practice judging now. Don’t worry about opportunities- they are everywhere. When you see a homeless person, what’s your first thought? Well, stifle it. Think about why that person may be homeless. When you see someone sick or ailing, do you think how horrible it must be to have to go through that, or are you only hoping they don’t come anywhere near you? When you hear about someone in the news or on TV doing something wrong, do you judge against the entire class of people they belong to (i.e., all athletes, all actors, all politicians, etc?)

We have plenty of opportunities to learn how to judge, to learn to restrain our initial emotional reactions and allow our thoughts and reason to take charge. We do need to go with our “gut” on occasions, but overall it is our compassion, our forgiveness, and the rules and examples set for us by God and Yeshua that we should turn to when judging others.

When Messiah returns to take charge of the world, He will set up His court and assign those who will judge the nations. Do you want to be one of those? Then practice now so that you will be ready and worthy of that title.

Here come da judges!! Here come da judges!!

 

 

Can You See the Wind?

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Have you ever felt that there is just so much going on right now, and none of it is going right, that you wonder if God took a vacation? The world is a cursed place, and I think, because often God will bless us with good times, we forget that. When the day is sunny, just the right temperature, and we are with loved ones enjoying ourselves, we forget about all the strife in the world,  war, diseases, bigotry, etc. All we are thinking about is how much fun we are having and how wonderful life is.

Then reality hits, and we think, “How can God allow this to happen to me?”

Sometimes it seems that the Almighty is mighty…far away!

Do you know that poetic story, the one about the man and God walking side-by-side on the beach? I think it is called, “Footprints in the Sand.” It tells of a man walking with God, seeing both sets of footprints in the sand, when suddenly as troubles come upon the man he sees only one set of footprints in the sand. Later, after the troubles are gone, he sees two sets of footprints, again. He asks God, ‘Where were you when I needed you? I only saw my footprints in the sand”, and God answered, lovingly, “My child, those were My footprints- during those times of trouble I was carrying you.”

We can’t see the wind, but we can feel it’s presence and see it’s effect. Sometimes the wind is so light you can barely feel it, and other times it seems to not be there at all; we don’t feel the slightest hint of a breeze. But the wind is still there. And other times the wind is so strong that we can’t stand in its presence. At the worst, the wind can be deadly.

Yet, it is always the same thing- it is air. It is all around us, always. Without the air, we die. And when the air is in motion, it is the wind, and we can then most acutely feel its presence.

That is how it is with God. He is always there, He is always surrounding us, and when He moves we can sense His presence.

God doesn’t need us to do anything for Him to move, and often He will show His presence in astounding ways without us doing anything. He will bless us when we don’t expect it, or He may allow us to fall under the cursed world in order to test us. He does what He wants to do, when He wants to do it, and if He doesn’t want to do something, who can make Him do it? No one. This is one of the truths about God that many people refuse to accept, which is a wedge between them and their salvation: God does what He wants to do and we can’t do anything about that.  We can’t make God do anything, but we can influence Him.

We can influence Him into action through faithful prayer. When we come under tsouris (problems) and feel that God must have abandoned us, we need to remember that the wind is never gone, even when we can’t feel it. It just isn’t moving. There are many factors that can affect the wind and cause it to stir, but there is only one thing that we need in order to cause God to move- faithful prayer. When people ask for a sign, or atheists and agnostics say they need to see proof of God’s existence, they just don’t understand about wind. When you move air, it causes wind, and the winds’ effects can be seen, proving that it is there. With God, faithful prayer is the fan that moves Him into action, and His actions are the proof that He exists. The reason these people don’t see proof of God is because they have no faith. They can have all the proof they will ever need, but they won’t do what is necessary. It is as the prophets have said: they have ears but cannot hear, and eyes but cannot see.

I loved the Three Stooges. I especially remember when Moe would poke Curly in the eyes and Curly would cry out,”Moe! Larry! I can’t see! I can’t see!” and when Moe and Larry asked what’s wrong, Curly smiled and said, “‘Cause my eyes are closed.” That’s when Moe would slap him across the head. Exactly what I think many people in the world need today- a good slap to the head while screaming in their ears, “WAKE UP!!!  You’re almost out of time and you’d better stop this foolishness.”

Did you know that when the Bible refers to foolishness it doesn’t mean making funny faces and performing silly antics? It refers to people who refuse to accept God’s existence and power. The Biblical definition of a  foolish person is one who rejects God.

We all suffer dry spells, we all go through our own “desert”, and sometimes we find ourselves back in the same desert over and over. Yet, even the most desolate desert has wind.

God is always here. I read once the ancient Rabbi’s said that it is impossible for God to go down to Earth because He is already there. He is everywhere, all the time, and the reason we don’t see Him is because we are too stubborn or too hardhearted to be able to see Him. Just like air, God is all around us, even when we don’t feel His presence.

If you want to know His presence, faithfully pray to Him. Fan the Lord with your faith, prod Him with your prayers, and watch Him move mountains for you.

Talking in (Digital) Tongues

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Facebook…Twitter…Hash tag this, Tweet me that. Whatever happened to talking to each other using the language we were (supposed) to have been taught in school?

OK- one thing I can say about Twitter is that having a defined number of characters can help someone learn to say what they want to say as effectively as possible. People who give sermons could take a lesson from that (myself included) but overall what we have done is to shorten words so much, and use just the initials (acronyms instead of words), that it has been a digital glossolalia.

What’s worse is that the youth of today cannot communicate outside this world of text-language. That spells disaster for anyone over 45 because when the high school kids of today enter the workforce, the age of sending memo’s will be gone. It will be MMITCF (meet me in the conference room) or YF! (this can be figured out easily, as you pack up your desk.)

The Bible is from God, and it tells us who He is and what He wants from us, and those things never change. There are many, many different interpretations, and I am afraid that in the next decade or so the newer versions may be more in line with digital talk than plain English.

Imagine: “…and the Lord emailed Moses and said,”Hash tag Pharaoh and tell him to LMPG!”  How about: “David and Jonathan were BFF’s?” Or maybe: “…First there was the email, then the email became a Tweet, and the tweet dwelt within my mailbox.”

It seems to lose something, doesn’t it? Some of you may be saying there are languages today that are picture languages, such as many of the Asian languages and even ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics. And the ancient Egyptians were the most developed and advanced people of their time, so why am I so worried about today’s Text-talk? And you could be right- maybe I am just being old fashioned and stubborn.

I’ve had people say I am stubborn, but I will NEVER AGREE!!!  (this is what we writers call, ‘Comic relief.” Are you laughing? No? Maybe a smile?)

Language itself is a dynamic thing, it always changes and that is a normal part of civilization. As we grow we change, our needs change, our society changes, and so to does the language. To most people the word “Blast” today only means some sort of explosion, or a party, but in the late 19th Century it was a curse word. I am certain that some of today’s curse words will be a regular part of the language by the year 2020. The comedian (the late) George Carlin had a skit about “The 7 Words You Can’t Say on Television”- I think there’s only 2 left. Even when they bleep out the word, it is still obvious what it is.

Anyway, language will change, and I suppose that there will be people who will eventually re-write the Bible to reflect the current verbiage and usage. I pray that nothing is lost in translation.

God is the same today as he was yesterday, and will be the same tomorrow and forever. The Bible is not just His laws and teachings, it is who He is. It is how He lets us get to know Him, intimately. Changing that into modern text-talk has to deplete it. I can’t stand that idea!

I have been a little back-and-forth today, and I’m sorry about that. I can’t seem to get my thoughts together coherently and express them in a clear way. Maybe that’s part of the message- I am pretty good at writing (I hope you agree) and can express myself well. If I can’t write a blog telling you, my readers, exactly what I am feeling, if I had text-talked this how much more would you be missing? We cannot afford to miss even one jot or tiddle from the Manual because we will need every sentence, every word, every syllable that God gave us to defend ourselves against the Enemy.

Ephesians tells us the Word of God is a sword. Just like any sharp instrument, if you don’t handle it carefully and with respect, you can seriously damage yourself. We need to keep the Word of God intact, and as He had us write it. If we become so irresponsible with our language as to change the way we communicate, we lose something very valuable. Poetry, the beautiful lyrics of music, love letters between people, the Psalms…you can’t express these feelings and emotions with acronyms.  And that means that the Bible, also, will lose it’s potency if it is “texted.”

Yeshua tells us to stay alert with regards to His return. May I suggest we stretch the meaning of this a little to be alert not just for His return, but to the way the Enemy will try to deceive us into apostasy.  I may sound a little over-reactive, but I do believe that as we lose the ability to communicate effectively with each other we lose the ability to organize. If we can’t organize, we can’t become an army for God. Maybe in a century or so people will be able to communicate using nothing but symbols and acronyms, but I don’t think so. We need a language with the ability to express itself in complete thoughts and to be flexible enough to change without becoming so different it isn’t even the same thing anymore.

Teach your children to write with words, teach your employees how to write a memo, to spell without “Spellcheck”, and to verbally communicate with each other. Ditch the cell phones at parties and in the car, or at the dinner table, and talk to each other.

We need to stay together, to communicate effectively so that we can be ready and prepared against the Enemies of God. We can’t do that well if we can’t even form a sentence.

 

When Ya Gotta Go, Ya Gotta Go!

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I was travelling with some new friends I met at my place of worship and we were talking about a schism they had recently experienced within the congregation, just a little before I started to attend.

The discussion turned to how so many people were tied to other people in the congregation, tied to the building, the memories of the activities in that building, and other human-based , worldly things. The finances didn’t allow for that building anymore, but people wanted to stay there because it was comfortable and they had been there for years. Some others wanted to keep the building they couldn’t afford because of the memories  of ceremonies for family and friends that had been given there.  Others didn’t want to stay with the group moving because they changed the date of services.

I understand these feelings- I felt them towards the synagogue where I was first “saved” and to which I had given more than just time: I gave money, I gave blood and sweat, and many tears. I made friends and had many happy, spiritually enriching experiences there, too. I was tied to it emotionally and spiritually. But when the time came to leave, I was gone.

Maybe you’re thinking ,”Hey- if I like a place, what’s wrong with that?” Nothing. But if you like a place too much, you are too tied to the world.

Here’s something that may get me in trouble, but I’ll say it, anyway (after all, it’s my blog): I believe that people who are strongly tied to a tradition, or a memory, or a place will be the first ones to kneel down and take the mark!

“Hey- whaddaya mean? I am a Christian soldier and I won’t turn my back on God. I just don’t want to leave this place or have a new Pastor/Rabbi/whatever. I like things the way they are.”

What does God do with a vine that bears much good fruit? He prunes it, so that it can grow more good fruit elsewhere.

What did Yeshua say to the man who wanted to follow Him?  “The fox has it’s hole and the bird its nest, but the Son of Man doesn’t have a place to lay His head.”

Didn’t Yeshua say that someone who holds the plow and looks back isn’t fit for the Kingdom of God?

The world is a waste- nothing of the world has lasting power or eternal value. Only those things of the Spirit can be counted upon to last. That is why I say that people who are tied to worldly things will take the mark- it’s because their Spirit is weak and, like the seed that is sown among weeds, they will apostatize when the rubber hits the road. Their weak spirit and lack of faith (that’s right- being attracted to the world and it’s things shows lack of faith) will cause them to accept the mark. Why? Because the Enemy will attract them and dupe them in by promising that their comfort zone will be coddled, that they are right and justified to stay where they feel comfortable. That anyone who tells them they need to change is wrong.

When something never changes they have a special name for that- it’s called stagnation. It’s the way to keep from growing and maturing. It’s the comfortable, easy way. It’s also death.

Yeshua said we need to pick up our execution stake and follow Him. Think about that for a moment…He didn’t say pick up your stake and stand still. He said pick it up and follow. Well, I can’t follow anyone who isn’t moving, so I guess Yeshua figures He will be moving, He will be in motion, and I’ll bet you that He won’t be looking back as He plows.

We need to be ready, willing, and even (dare I say it!) looking forward to when Yeshua or God will call us out of our comfort zone so that we can do more good for His Glory!

Don’t stagnate, don’t get comfy-cozy, and do be ready to move when the call comes. God is everywhere, so His work is everywhere. If you expect to be doing His work, don’t get too comfortable.

Reconcile Yourself to Reconciliation

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My son is 22 years old today. The last time he talked to me was about a year ago, and then it was to tell me all about how lousy a father I am, I need to grow up, yadda-yadda-yadda. I got this in an email, so I replied and said the things I had forced myself not to say for the prior 21 years, about the truth regarding the marriage break-up with his mother, what I thought about how she had treated Bryce and Alexandra (his older sister, who stopped talking to me years ago because I didn’t give her money for school books- it’s a long story), and other things that I had intended to bring up at some point when he was mature enough to hear it. As it ended up, I figured that was my last chance to say anything, I told him those things, not to “get back” but in the hope that one day he might remember, understand and forgive so we could reconcile.

This is what God has done for us through His Prophets (not that I place myself in God’s position, just to use as an example). All the things I said to Bryce were meant to “wake him up”, to get his mind focused to see what he was doing to himself, and what had been done to him. Just as too often we are too late to realize that we have been fooled, or used by people, I wanted him to see things that he had blinded himself to. This is what God tried to do, what He did with the Prophets, and what Yeshua did. Yeshua, however, talked in parables, and I don’t know why that was necessary. Maybe because the Prophets were straight forward and that did no good; perhaps by talking in parables, the people (stupid as we are) would remember the story even if they didn’t first get the meaning, then eventually it would become clear to them as they retold the story, over and over.

I sent Bryce a birthday card, as I did his sister on her birthday in June. Inside I asked each of them if they are ready to reconcile. I miss them terribly, and I am still hurt and upset that their mother did so much to turn them against not just me, but their grandparents and aunts, too. Yet, I pray for her. In fact, I have taught myself to do that (see my Drash about forgiveness- it’s in here, somewhere) because I don’t know anyone more in need of the love of God than her. I also pray for Alex and Bryce, that they would be reconciled to God, and (I believe) once they are, the Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit) will turn their hearts to reconciling with me and Donna, their step-Mom.

Human relationships are, at the same time, wonderful and a pain in the you-know-where. We want to have people act the way we want them to, and they don’t. In fact, they shouldn’t- that’s what makes the relationship so wonderful. It’s the differences, as the saying goes, that makes the relationship fun. Of course, we need to be on the same page on the important things. Yeshua said the most important commandments were to love God and each other; not at the expense of all the other laws and regulations, but because doing that will make everything else fall into place. Same with human relationships- you can have opposites attract, but there needs to be a balance, and a common foundation, ethically, morally and spiritually. By loving God we learn forgiveness, and that will keep our relationships strong and rewarding.

Reconciliation is at the core of relationships, whether with God or each other. The main difference is that humans don’t always want to reconcile. I think in some ways they feel it diminishes them, sort of like “giving in” if they want to forgive and rebuild a relationship. How stupid! It takes strength and compassion, not weakness, to be able to reconcile. It takes deep devotion and God-like love to forgive. Those who don’t forgive or want to reconcile will end up alone, lonely and (probably) mad at the world for being so cruel, when all the world is doing is reflecting back what they are to themselves.

The Torah is supposed to be a mirror that we see ourselves in. When I look at Torah, I see a faint, cloudy image: I wouldn’t even see that if not for the Ruach that has helped me to be more like Torah than myself.  The more I die to self, the more the reflection will clear up. The way to help that image become more and more clear is not just be willing to reconcile with people, but actively trying to.

That is the major difference between reconciling with people and reconciling with God- people aren’t always willing to reconcile, but God is always there for you. I believe even if that old imp, Ha Satan ,wanted to truly reconcile with God that God would be overjoyed at his return. Yeshua said that if a brother (or sister, for that matter) asks for forgiveness, we shouldn’t forgive 7 times, but 70 times  7 times. In other words, always.

Are you ready to reconcile? It doesn’t matter if the other person does or not- that is between them and God. As for you, try to reconcile. At Rosh HaShannah a tradition is to go to those you may have upset or sinned against and ask forgiveness, i.e. reconcile with them. It’s hard- it isn’t easy to open yourself to someone and lay your heart on your sleeve. But it has to be done. If it seems really hard, or you are thinking, “Right. You reconcile- the creeps in my life can go to blazes and I will not reconcile with them because they don’t deserve my forgiveness!” you should read Matthew, Chapter 6. Look at what Yeshua says right after He gives us the template for prayer.  Reconciliation isn’t something that you have a choice about, and when you reconcile with God, it is between you and Him. Even when you reconcile with someone else, it is still about you and God. You have a win-win, even if the person doesn’t want to reconcile, because forgiveness is what God gives us and demands that we share with others. Read the parable about the Master who forgives his servant a large debt, but the servant doesn’t forgive a small debt. Scary stuff.

When you go to reconcile with someone, even if you fail because the other party refuses, you are right with God.

I would love it if I could reconcile with my children. I am willing to ask forgiveness, to open a new relationship, but still there are still rules. I am not saying that anything goes, whatever they say, Dad is wrong and will never try to teach them, or refute things with them, or get angry, or ever try to change them. They are too immature and too blind, after years of wrong conditioning, to really know what is best for them.  I mean, really- I’m the Dad. Being a parent is not being a friend, and parents have an obligation to try to teach their children how to get along in the world and protect themselves from harm: spiritual, emotional and physical.  They don’t have to listen, either. They do need to make their own mistakes. It’s a constant battle- parents try to teach the hard lessons they have learned, and children refuse to listen so they end up learning the lessons the same way their parents did- the hard way. Then they have children and the cycle starts, all over again. All I want to do is have them in my life, and to be in theirs. The Ozzie and Harriet, Father Knows Best and My Three Sons innocence of the 60’s TV family life is not what anyone has or ever had. We all come from dysfunctional families. If you think about it, since we are, ourselves, a dysfunctional creature, it only makes sense when you put a bunch of us together that our relationship will be as we are…dysfunctional. I know that we will fight, will have differences of opinions, and will get on each other’s nerves. That’s how humans are, for Pete’s sake! That’s no reason to disown each other.

If you really want to have a right relationship with God, you need to have right relationships with people. You can’t love God and hate people (although I often feel like the less people in the world, the better…and I have a list of names to start with); if you really love Him, you have to obey Him (that’s what Yeshua said) and that brings us back to the two most important commandments.

Please!- reconcile yourself to reconcile with others; I guarantee your life will be so much better when you do.

L’Shana Tovah- A Rosh HaShanah Drash

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For me, a Holy Day is described by God in Leviticus 23, and a holiday is something religion created. This day is sort of both, since the Holy Day is a memorial (Yom Teruah, or Day of Trumpets) and the holiday is the Jewish New Year. Actually, the new year as God tells us, is Pesach (Passover). In Exodus He tells us that the first day we are free from slavery to Egypt is to be the first day of our calendar.

On this day, the traditional Torah reading is the Akedah, or binding, of Isaac (Gen. 21:1-24.) In keeping with this tradition (not all traditions are bad), I would like to offer this Drash:

The fact that God tests us is seen throughout the Tanakh. He does so not to tease or tempt us to do wrong, but to strengthen us. To help us mature, spiritually.  The way to be prepared for a test, any test, is to study. But to study correctly, in other words, to study that which will help you overcome the challenges you are to face, you need to know the subject matter. You don’t study Algebra for a History test, and you don’t develop spiritual maturity through blessings.

That’s right- blessings are the gold star you get after the test. The test is the hard part, and the test stinks to high heaven. The tests are difficult, and never too much for us, so long as we remember to look to God for the strength to pass.  If we try to pass God’s spiritual testing on our own, we will most likely fail. We can’t do it, we need the Ruach to help us overcome our natural sinful sinfulness.

Isn’t that redundant, Steve? Sinful sinfulness? Maybe; the point I want to make is that we don’t just sin, we are sinful, too. We don’t just sin, we want to sin, we need to sin, it’s our natural state of mind. So, we don’t just sin, we live to sin, we desire to sin, we are sinfully, sinful. Thank God that Yeshua overcame this for us.

That’s why testing is so hard, but it doesn’t have to be. God’s tests are an open book test because the Bible is always close at hand, the Ruach is waiting for us to give it a “Shout Out”, and God is standing all around us, waiting to catch us.

Yet, we fail. We manage to avoid the safety net, the harness and the protective gear (that’s in Ephesians) and find a way to still fall flat on our faces. And sometimes when we fall, we land hard on someone else.

That brings us to another tradition: to ask forgiveness of those we have, or may have, sinned against during the past year. This is a Jewish tradition that Jews (probably) don’t know is also confirmed by Yeshua. Yeshua tells us before we bring our offering to God, if someone has something against us we should leave the offering at the altar, go to that person, and ask forgiveness. Gee- you mean Yeshua did something Jewish? Duh!!!

The next 10 days are called “The Days of Awe”, when we become introspectively aware of the many ways we have fallen short of what God has wanted of us. It is time to take off the blinders, to see ourselves as we are, to ask forgiveness of others and at the end, repentant and contrite of heart and spirit, to ask forgiveness of God when this period culminates on Yom Kippur.

I call it the “Days of Aw”, as in ,”Aw, shucks!” because that’s how I feel when I realize how much I know about what God wants, all the knowledge and insight I have gained from His spirit, and look at me- still stupid, still unwilling, still sinning and still trying. I guess the last part is the difference that His spirit has made in me- before I was saved, I was a sinner that rationalized my sins, now I am a sinner that regrets my sins. And even though I sound down on myself, I am glad that I sin less, that I want to do what is right, and that I am improving. Slow as molasses going uphill against the wind in January, but….making progress.

We all fail now and then, Brothers and Sisters, but do not let your failures make you sad- let them be a “test” to strengthen you to do better. And when we fail we only need to remember that Yeshua did not fail, that He passed every test presented to Him, and that because of His success we can get back on track. We must always strive to do better. Do not allow a letdown to cause you to give up on His calling in your life. That’s a cop-out!

Praise the Lord, because when we ask His forgiveness He forgets our failures, and praise the Lord that He always remembers our successes.

One last thought for the day: the Akedah introduces martyrdom to the Bible (even though Isaac was not killed, he was willing to die.) This will become a sadly regular part of the devoted Believer’s life for the rest of history (until the final victory is accomplished.) It is the ultimate testing of faith.

A modern Jewish poet named J. L. Gordon wrote this poem in memorial of a tragic slaughter that occurred in England at the Castle of York in the year 1190:

“We have sacrificed all. We have given our wealth.
Our homes, our honours, our land, our health
Our lives- like Hannah and her children seven-
For the sake of the Torah that came from Heaven.”

Yeshua is the living Torah and when He died on that tree the Torah that was a works-driven Torah died with Him. When He was resurrected, the Torah also was given new life, as a faith-driven path to Redemption. That means that nothing has changed in the Torah: it is still Torah (2nd Timothy 14) and is still valid for everyone who worships the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. What cannot be accomplished through the works-driven Torah, can be accomplished in the  faith-driven Torah that lives in us! Yeshua fulfilled the Torah, in works, in interpretations, in the sight of all the peoples. He is in us, and through Him we can be victorious over sin.

Use these next 10 days to look into yourself. The Torah is supposed to be a mirror that we look into. Look in the mirror- what do you see? Look harder- Torah is there, Brothers and Sisters. How can I be so sure? Because God Himself told us in Jeremiah 31:31 that it will be written on our hearts, and I believe God!

Each of us who have accepted God’s Grace through Yeshua Ha Meshiach, all of us who are children of the Everlasting God- we all are one in Messiah and He is in us!

Look deep within yourself over these next 10 days and seek Him out!