next in a series of [somewhat edited] letters sent to a friend, giving him an update on how life with the Hazys has changed
I trust that you’re doing well, brother. I know that you mentioned you’ve always got one thing or another going on…it’s the same on my end. With a crew this size, we’re always planning something, doing one thing or another, or recovering (and maybe cleaning up, lol) from something we’ve done.
It’s the same at work: there’s always more to do than there is time to get it done, and the list keeps growing - sometimes every day. My boss likes to call it “job security”. lol, again.
When I consider all that I’m responsible for, and all the people depending on me, and all the expectations, it can get…a little overwhelming. maybe a lot. We’ve talked about this, and I know you can relate to where I’m coming from.
When I feel the pressure rising, there are several truths that help me to manage the stress, take a breath, and tap into that hard-to-explain shalom that Paul wrote to the family at Philippi about. Here are two examples:
- I’m adopted. That means quite a few things, but I’ll just highlight one: learning the house rules. There’s no instinct or genetic default in me that just [understands] God’s way automatically. I’m not missing something that should’ve come naturally, something I should have known right from the start. Thankfully, I have a loving father who teaches me, and an (adopted) big brother who is the perfect example - and, by the way, a professional teacher/trainer himself. (Don’t forget, his followers knew him as “rabbi”). ***Disclaimer: just because I, you, and everyone else all the way back to Abraham were adopted and have to learn it all doesn’t mean we get a pass on what we’ve already been taught and trained on. end disclaimer***
- Next, I’ve got the company card. As part of my 9-5 (so to speak) job working for this oil/gas company, I have a company-issued credit card. As long as I get permission, and it’s for company business, I can use that card to get what I need. And I don’t have to pay it back. And my company’s pockets are a lot deeper than mine. Why am I telling you this? You already know why.
When I’m on “God’s time”, doing things his way, taking care of his business…he’ll pay my way. He’ll provide what I need. But, just like my employer, God does it according to his business plan, in keeping with his policies, according to his “employee handbook”. Just because I get into a certain situation or rack up a certain kind of debt behind my own “bright ideas” doesn’t mean the Most High will pick up the check or bail me out. He can do that, and if he does, that’s a grace/mercy kind of thing. But he doesn’t have to fix my mess. (I suppose that last part was another disclaimer)
Coming back to my point: When the pressure of life comes on, it’s a peace-building comfort to know that our God has the resources and ability to fix situations that are hopeless without him.
You know what? That’s not even what I planned to write you about; I guess it falls more under “here’s what God is reminding me about lately.”
Family matters.
…and speaking of not what I planned to write, I also wanted to share something else related to your growing friendship with this people you know from “another” faith. This same thought is also related to the Hazys' former church
- Not all families are the same family First John comes to mind a lot as I think about the “other faith” situation. He paints a pretty clear picture of who has eternal life (and, by implication, who doesn’t). Chapter 5:11-12 are pretty explicit, and the rest of the letter also describes correct theology regarding who Yeshua is, how he came, what he did, what that accomplished, and how all that that affects his people and how we live.
It’s the same with these “other” folks as it is with you, me, and everyone else. What do we do with Yeshua? Do we believe he is who he says he is, that he did what he says he did? Either we believe in the God of the Bible or we don’t. A person can believe in a completely different - or even similar god and call him “Jesus”, but that doesn’t get them eternal life. Only a right relationship with the God of the Bible on his terms will get us there as members of his family.
- Sometimes, families have…issues. Even though my crew no longer attends that church we were a part of for over a decade, we’re still family, At least the Hazys still consider us all family. During and since the parting, there have been several conversations, a few social media interactions, and occasional text messages. I even emailed one friend back and forth a bit. Most of those interactions have been polite (a few, less so), but all have highlighted the disagreement over how to believe and live according to Scripture. For reasons I mentioned above when writing about 1st John, we still consider them family. We get the impression they might not all feel the same way.
Not long after “the parting”, I had breakfast with an old friend from there. I think we both saw it as a way to say “I love you, man; I’ll see ya around…” I told him there’s a reason Presbyterians don’t attend Baptist Church, and why Catholics don’t go to Methodist, etc., etc.. What folks believe and how they live out that faith, well, it matters to them, and…sometimes it’s just easier to catch up with family at events like weddings, birthdays, reunions, etc., instead of sharing day-to-day life.
I’ll just leave the metaphor there, with an appreciation for concepts given in Romans 12 and Matthew 7. We’re family, I love them, and we mostly get along with just about all of them, though we do it from a certain distance now.
The other thing I wanted to circle back around to is this concept: I have discovered over the past few years that the God of the Bible - the Most High, the One True God as revealed in Scripture - he’s not quite the same as I once thought he was.
My family has discovered a different, more peaceful, more consistent living out of our faith, (some people might call this orthopraxy) and it came about like I have mentioned before: as we read the Bible, we do it with an intention to obey what we’re hearing God say through Scripture.
שָׁמַע
That intention to obey is the beginning of the “first commandment” Yeshua quoted in the Gospels. Every practicing Jew who heard him would automatically think of the passage he was quoting from (which is Deuteronomy 6:4-6), and didn’t need the complete wording - kind of like if I was talking about that verse describing how “…God created the heavens and the earth.” - most folks familiar with their Bible know the first phrase of Genesis 1:1 without me saying it, and their mind automatically “fills in” that wording and the meaning connected to it.
Anyway, somewhere along the way, folks stopped following the latter part of that command from Deuteronomy 6 (“…teach your children…all the time, in every context, all that I’ve instructed you..”) I can’t say for sure why this happened, but I can tell you this much: it’s a rare person who comes to the Bible these days with the attitude of “Okay, Lord, I have decided to make any adjustments necessary to live right with you: I will stop doing what I need to stop, and start doing what I ought to do. Just tell me what you want, and I’ll do it.” That’s the concept, the meaning of Sh’ma (שָׁמַע), the Hebrew word translated “Hear” at the beginning of verse four. In the following verses, we’re given the prescribed way to make disciples and pass along the faith, and to give ourselves reminders of that faith.
People don’t do that anymore - not all of it. Most folks skip the agreement before the beginning - the yes, I’ll do whatever you want, tell me what that is attitude. Many people who read Jesus talking about the great command may not even know he’s quoting from Deuteronomy - let alone know the “hear-to-obey” prerequisite - because they don’t read that part of the Bible. Maybe because they’ve been taught (incorrectly) that that’s not for us, or maybe they’ve made that choice on their own.
“Me-” vs. “God-” Centered Faith.
In my first “from there to here” letter, I wrote to you about how Shannon and I bend our religious thought, beliefs, and activity to Scripture, and not the other way around. In the last letter, I wrote about how our faith should be focused on God and others, not our own development and self-realization. Both of those represent a shifting in us from a Greek (or western) mindset back to a Hebrew mindset. I’ve included a graphic describing these different approaches in some detail. [click here if you'd like to see it] I got this thing from the same ministry (website) where we got our Bible reading plan. (That plan, as I told you before, is basically read it from Genesis to maps.) Hoo boy, if you want to get the leadership at my old church fired up, just mention that ministry.
Anyway, this comparison highlights the difference between a “me focused” starting point where everything (including the Gospel) is added to the individual if they accept it…and a “God focused” starting point where I sh’ma - I agree to do things his way, then find out what that is and how to do it.
Immutability.
One last related thought that I’ll introduce to you now and elaborate more on next time: The God of the front of the book is the same God in the back of the book. He’s One God, and the Bible is telling us One Story. Same God, same story.
A website that [my old pastor] does endorse is gotquestions.org. It defines this concept (theologians would call it the immutability of God) as His quality of not changing. In Malachi 3, the Most High declares…”I do not change.” And the writer of Hebrews says the same thing about Yeshua the Messiah, telling us he’s “…the same yesterday, today, and forever.”
In the next letter I’ll highlight some disconnects between what I used to say I believed (as a modern, western, evangelical, theologically reformed Christian) and how I disobeyed and explained away parts of the Bible…and how things began to change when I applied “One God, one story; same God, same story” to the Bible, and then approached it with a “hear-to-obey” mindset.
…and I’ll also write to you about the “set apart” times, and how we observe them...
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