Shabbat Shalom
Friday, November 17, 2006
Good Shabbos, fellow blog readers, believers in Messiah, Jews from all walks of life, and anyone else who happens upon this post!
I've been listening to the three-part Torah Talk series on the importance of keeping Shabbat, hosted by Pastor Mark Mclellan of Kehilat Tnuvah in Colorado. I was impressed by one caller who phoned in to question, "Is it not an issue of the heart, whether I celebrate on Sunday or not? Isn't it the issue of my heart?"
What?
An "issue of your heart"?
What does that mean?
"Shabbat was made for mankind, not mankind for Shabbat; So the Son of Man is L-rd even of Shabbat." (Mark 2:27-28) Shabbat is a GIFT from G-d; remembering Shabbat and keeping it holy is the 4th mitzvah. Our Messiah is L-RD of Shabbat. Shabbat has nothing to do with your heart, or how you feel about it; Shabbat is when you stop thinking about you and make it a point to remember your covenant with HaShem and His blessings in your life, the lives of your people, your ancestors, and your descendants.
One of the greatest problems with Christianity is the philosophy of ME. Think about it: Any time someone asks you about your faith, do you answer them by telling them about G-d, or do you tell them about you? How many answers being with "I go," or "I do," or "I think," instead of, "Yeshua teaches," or "Adonai says," or "G-d has done such-and-such in my life"? Look at the Christian aisle in any bookstore, and what will you see? Devotionals for individuals, tomes about empowerment and growing in your faith as an individual, Bibles that are laid out like teen magazines "all about YOU!" ...When did Yeshua being our personal Savior translate into, "It's all about ME"?
Most people, whether they are Messianic or Christian, think of Shabbat as a day to sleep in, to hang out with friends, maybe to put in a few hours at services, but that's about it. How many believers actually spend the entire day of Shabbat, from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday, thinking about G-d? If they do think about Adonai, how long do they spend thinking about Him? For those few hours at services? During grace at dinner that night? Shabbat isn't a vacation day given to you by Adonai so you could loaf around, go shop, hang out, and do whatever "your heart tells you" to do, because it isn't about you, it's about HaShem. It's about His covenant with us, manifest and fulfilled in Yeshua the Messiah's atoning sacrifice and resurrection. It's about living out our halacha in accordance with our covenant with Him in Torah. It's all about HIM, not us. His heart, not our hearts. Since when is an emissary greater than his master?
I'd like to encourage you to spend this Shabbat focusing, or re-focusing, your energies on Adonai. Spend this Shabbat as He commanded, not as your heart intends. The ways of man are sinful; this is why we have been commanded to mark Shabbat along with all of the other appointed times and mitzvot, so that we can be pleasing to Him, our Creator and Savior. Isn't He who our faith is all about?
Messianic Judaism
Shabbat
Torah
Christianity
posted by Shoshana @ 3:47 PM
