Living Sacrifice

In our family, we keep Shabbat. This just means that we observe the Sabbath, as the 4th commandment teaches, as a day to avoid chores and work and instead we spend time with each other, with friends and most importantly, with God. It is a day for relationship. This provides the perfect opportunity for me to sit down and do an in depth Bible study with the kids every Saturday morning, and we've come to cherish this time together.

Our last study was in Genesis, but we ended up learning something so much more amazing than simply the creation story (which is awesome in itself) that I just have to share it! When we typically think of Christ's sacrifice, we think of His death on the cross. But, until now, I never really realized that it was much more than just that Passover day.

It began that we were studying how Adam and Eve, before their fall into sin, were in perfect communion with God. They didn't need clothing because because they were "clothed" in righteousness...they were sin free. This "clothing" may have been very much like the "Shekinah," the fire/light in the cloud that was the presence of God Himself, that led the Israelites in the wilderness. The light shining from within them must have been so glorious and overcoming that they had no need of clothing to cover their flesh. They lost that pure, white, bright light of righteousness the moment they disobeyed God's instructions (sin), thus exposing their nakedness. As punishment for their sin, Adam and Eve were cast out of the garden, that beautiful and sustaining environment that God had created just for them to dwell in. They were thrown out of their perfect dwelling, and an angel bearing swords was placed at the gate to prevent their re-entry into the garden. They were separated from that unity with their Creator. Since He is our source of life, our separation from Him brings slow death.

This whole time, the Messiah was dwelling as God in the heavenlies. When He came to Earth as the Messiah, He had to take on the flesh of sinful man, that dirty flesh void of God's "Shekinah" glory, so that He could walk as we walk. He gave up His rightful place as the Right Hand of God. He allowed Himself to be separated, just as we are separated in our sinful, agonizing state. He was cast out of the garden just as we were. The moment He allowed Himself to be conceived into that human state, He was separated. His own slow death began. He experienced that fullness of separation for the 30 odd years that He walked among us, experiencing the pain that we all know so well, right alongside of us. As if that separation wasn't enough, He had to die a bloody death to fulfill the promise of a Sacrifice in our stead. But finally free from His fleshly "veil," He was freed from that separation and resurrected to His rightful place once again! This gives a whole new meaning to his last words in Mark 15:34, "'Elohi! Elohi! L'mah sh'vaktani?' (which means, 'My God! My God! Why have you deserted me?')" His death began at the moment of his conception.

His living was the sacrifice. This tears at my heart in the deepest of ways and it brings me to my knees.

And it makes me wonder if my living is the sacrifice it needs to be?

Dirty Denominationalism

Something that has been on my mind a lot lately has been religion. By religion, I'm talking about the "denomination" or "religious following" that we practice, in contrast to the faith values we hold to and live out in our daily lives. I think believers, especially the younger generation, today find themselves experiencing a paradigm shift in how we view our practices. We are coming to realize that the practice of religion isn't always all it's cracked up to be.

Growing up, I remember being taught in church that other denominations hold faulty beliefs, that we need to be at church every week or we were in danger of falling away from the faith, that we need to fully adhere to the "tenants of our faith," and that it is bad to "pick and choose" different things from different denominations; sound familiar? I think when congregational leaders tell us these things, they have the best of intentions, however these things couldn't be farther from the truth. Even new believers shouldn't blindly follow...they should work out the beliefs they hold to be true by studying for themselves.

When Jesus wanted to be nearer to God, He went out alone. If He wanted to spend time with the Father, He would separate Himself from the crowds, and oftentimes even from His closest disciples, to pray. After His baptism, He spent 40 days in the wilderness, alone. My times of greatest growth have been when I have separated from the institution of church. These are the times when we are able to shift our focus from "church participation" to true fellowship. Now don't get me wrong, it is indeed a wonderful thing to be able to commune with other believers, however, we are called to fellowship with our Father first and foremost. He alone is our true source of strength and sanctification. Shouldn't "church" be just about that? Fellowship with other believers together with our Father...a means of worshipping God as a group? When did it become a podium (or pulpit) for teaching others what they should think about what the Bible says? Why do we have to make a separate set of rules that each must follow in order to be part of each fellowship? I believe all these things are done to try to protect us from falling into sin, but in the end, our own ignorance has caused that very thing.

Our faith-walk really has nothing to do with what denomination we choose. Each has it's strengths and it's weaknesses...we really should all be united in the Source of our faith. This is the weakness of mankind and it plagues every one of the worlds largest religions. Every form of the Judeo/Christian faith believes that it alone is the correct one. That is precisely why the Pharisees wanted to destroy Jesus...He was bringing unity under Himself where man wanted division.

The first believers in Jesus were Jewish and non-Jew alike. They were hungry for His teaching and, no matter their background, just wanted to be with Him. Once they recognized Him as the Messiah, they were taught, in a nutshell, to learn to love--God's way. It was that simple. After Messiah's ascention, the dissentions among those first believers arose very quickly because of their own notions of how things should work or be done or because of their lack of repentance and love. Religious disagreement is much of what crucified Christ! Our Messiah died because we can't just all get along and love God and our brother. Didn't we learn the first time?

Jesus said it all when He taught us to "Love the Lord our God" and to "Love our neighbor as ourselves." On these two--very basic--things hinge all the law and the prophets. After all, it isn't about religion or denomination, it's about relationship with our Creator.

Childlike Faith

I've often heard it said that we need to have "childlike faith." Well, what does this mean? My children have taught me invaluable lessons in this area!!

Many interpret childlike faith as having an unquestioning faith. I think, however, we may be wiser to do the exact opposite. Anyone who knows my son, Lane, will know how I've come to this conclusion. Daily, Lane has an unending list of questions. Some of these questions require answers far to complicated for his 5 year old mind to grasp, so sometimes I feel it's wiser to defer answers in full or in part until a time when he can better understand. I believe the Lord works this way with us as well. I sometimes (unwisely) give Lane too much information for his young mind to process and he isn't able to utilize it properly and what a mess that can make! He will say the wrong thing to the wrong person in the wrong way, for example. He's still too young to discern the proper use of some information. So I must be careful in the answers I provide...just as the Lord must be careful with what he reveals to us. I'm glad that the Lord knows better than me!

Back to my point, my children have shown me that childlike faith questions a LOT, but that trust is also key. To my kids, what I say is the ultimate truth. As a parent, this means I need to watch what I say. As a child of God, we need to have that type of trust in our Heavenly Father.

I've learned in recent months to not take unanswered questions for granted. Seek answers! In Matthew 7:7 we are told, "Seek and you shall find, knock and it shall be opened unto you." Faith in the Lord's promises coupled with prayers for Godly wisdom will lead us to truth. The Lord wants us to have childlike faith, not blind faith. We can't take the road less traveled if we're not looking hard enough. We'll never find it if we don't shuffle through all the fallen leaves, and what kid doesn't love to play in the leaf pile?!