Realness

Many of us these days are a bit fed up with empty phrases, and long for realness. A bit of something beyond the same songs, same sermons, same old...I discover realness and beauty that blesses me, when I hear people telling me about their relationship with God. They make Him feel so close. I see Him in their eyes shining, in their passionate words, in their blinking eyes that try to hide the moist, in the longing that transpires from them when they speak. I rather hear a child of His "fighting" with Him and asking "why" or "where" or "how", than to be somewhere where people try in vain to convince me of His presence as a Pepsi advert that promises to quench thirst but remains just a banner on a building. One of the real people that I love listening to when she speaks about her relationship with God, is my sister. The only way nothing moves in you is if you are made out of stone or you make yourself be one. I asked for her permission to translate her last posting. Some accused her of "humanising" God too much by relating to Him in this way. I find it bizarre for one to dictate to another how they should love, but then again some people do actually think they know everything in this world better than anyone. What my sister wrote is not for them. It is for those of us who long and miss and stretch a hand wanting to touch and close our eyes wanting to see. It it for those who hunger, who are completely sold out, those whom have tried everything and nothing else satisfies. What my sister wrote is for those who feel unworthy to be loved, for those who feel guilty and ashamed and want to hide. For those who begin to say "Lord..." but they don't know what else to tell Him and really hope that their heart says enough. "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied. " (Matthew 5:6) And know perhaps it is hard for us to get our head around this, but when He came for us He practically did say "I can't be an eternity without you...and you... and you..." Faithful (by Bat Melech, 23 March 2011)

Two Brothers

In my last posting I wrote: "Don't get me wrong, the opposite applies. If you pick on Israel only for the sake of sounding wise yourself, if you present me with the last piece of manipulated BBC news, and then speak things that are completely against God's Word, I won't be quiet. I might ask you a few questions:-)"
It didn't take long until I came across this, and again in church out of all places. It is again about the Law of Moses no longer being valid and Israel being replaced as God's people. So I went back to "Gospel according to Jesus" -Matthew 5-7, to see what my Lord thinks on the matter: "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. Therefore anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven." (Matthew 5:17-20)

I can already hear some "Emma, why talk about the Law now? You know that's a bit of a sore topic." Why do I care about the Law? God chose Israel to be His people, a nation of priests walking in His holiness and show the light of The One True God to all the world. He gave them the Law to guide them and teach them how to become that. Israel were not born priests. They were meant to become priests. They had to undergo a transformation from a nation of slaves to a nation of priests and the Law was their Teacher. And because God knew them to be "just a little bit stubborn" He also attached drastic consequences for disobeying their Teacher.
Then a Jew came one day. "He came to His own but they did not recognise Him" (John 1:11) He died for all those who would recognise Him as the Son of God. He used His life to teach us and His Blood to adopt us. Through His sacrifice God attached all those who would recognise Him to His family of priests. Here's another Jew (Apostle Peter) telling us what we have now become "But you are a chosen people, royal priests, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession. You were chosen to tell about the wonderful acts of God, who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light." (1 Peter 2:9) But I fail to see where exactly have we become this instead of Isreal, rather than with Israel. We were meant to become one family, but we turned against our older brothers and declared them worthless and replaceable. We haunted them down and killed as many as we could for over two thousand years. We haunted them so much, that Israel's obsession became survival at all costs. And now we sit here in awe at "their blindness" asking ourselves how come they can't see Jesus. Oh, they see Jesus, alright. Is just that we made sure for over two millennia they will forever associate His Name with torture, death, assimilation and extermination. As far as they are concerned, Israel's fight for survival carries on today. They fight military for their land and they fight spiritually for their belief in The One True God of Israel. I keep asking those who comment about "their blindness"- "If a Hindu would come to you and try time and time again to drill into you, that one of their gods is the one true god and you will burn in hell for not accepting their god, would you abandon Jesus and go after their god?" As far as that Hindu is concern aren't you just as blind as you accuse that Jew to be? They lived among us for two thousand years but priests and missionaries made sure that generation after generation they knew full well they are the "Christ killers". For a Jew, God is Almighty and All Powerful. Imagine what questions we create in their heads when we tell them our God can be killed by a handful of people in a small Roman province. We sit here and every time we have the Lord's Supper we remember what Jesus did for us. How He chose to die for all of us. And then we get out of our churches to comment on forums about the "Christ killers". Can someone please make up their mind? The Jews got so fed up with this that the worst thing you can be for a Jew today is what they call "a missionary". Someone bent on telling them how blind they are and how they will burn in hell. Of course that doesn't sit well with us because we only look at today's picture and conveniently forget what we did to them in the past.
Apostle Paul associates them with an olive tree which had some of its branches broken off and some wild branches joined instead. He carries on saying: "You non-Jewish people are like the branch of a wild olive tree that has been joined to that first tree. You now share the strength and life of the first tree, the Jews." (Romans 11:17)
Notice he says "you now share" not "you now replace". So if the Law given to Moses is a guide and a teacher to them and we are attached to their roots, should we take notice or dismiss that Law?
If our Lord and Saviour, the Jew who died to attach us to this tree, used such clear words to explain His view on the Law, if He considered the Law something so important in fact, that He made sure He fulfilled it, should we cross off those pages in our Bibles and write next to them not applicable?
I heard some saying that Jesus fulfilled the Law so that we don't have to fulfill it anymore. But then why is He saying "For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished"?
Did He fulfil it so that we would dismiss it for being "oh, so last season", or did He fulfil it so that we would not receive the punishment for breaking it every single time? I know Apostle Paul was eager to dismiss the Law as bringing us punishment. But the same man said: "So the law is holy, and the command is holy and right and good. Does this mean that something that is good brought death to me? No! Sin used something that is good to bring death to me. This happened so that I could see what sin is really like; the command was used to show that sin is very evil." Isn't that what a teacher does? Work on my weak points and develop my strong ones? Should I dismiss the Law only because it shows me my weaknesses? Or should I use what it shows me to ask God to develop that in me and grow me?

These are questions that I had to ask myself a while ago and I found my answers. I pray I will carry on finding them. I am not here to tell anybody what to do. Each one of us who are after God must find their own answers and live by them.

I am also absolutely not here to declare there is any other way to our salvation but Jesus, Son of God. The Law will not save me, but I am now convinced the Law will teach me and transform me into a better child of God. I am convinced because I saw its practical results in my life. What do I mean by a better child of God?
Last night one of my dear friends of mine was asking me some questions about Matthew 5:5 "So, you must be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect." (Jesus's words) In the context Jesus is talking about how we should love our enemies, not just those who love us. That we should be as our Father, who makes His sun shine on the good and the bad. To love your enemy, is a notion as foreign to our human nature as it can be. It goes against all our instincts. It is not something you're born with, it is something you practice every time someone breaks your heart and damages you or those you love. My friend was asking me "Does God expect me to be perfect, Emma? I can't be perfect, surely He knows that."
God knows full well we are not perfect. I don't believe God ever wanted a human delivered to Him with a red ribbon and in perfect shape when He chose us. Otherwise He wouldn't have repeatedly chose outcasts, sinners, unimportant people. He wouldn't have chosen a nation of slaves (a small nation at that) to turn them into a nation of priests. God is in the business of transformation. One of His greatest characteristics (one I love so much) is that He turns evil for good and creates something out of nothing. I don't believe God expects us to be perfect the minute we start walking with Him. The idea of "walking" involves a continuous progressive action. But He certainly does expect us to try every single day. Not because this would make us more acceptable to Him (we are already accepted) but because He knows trying everyday transforms us.
I believe He said "you must" because He knows we are fickle creatures, inconsistent in all our ways and He wanted to install in us a mindset that will not compromise. If I wake up everyday determined to live for God, I might not be perfect by the end of the day but I will certainly try. The Law of Moses, guides us in the smallest detail and it is so clear cut and practical that it is unlikely you would get confused. Why such adversity to it? If it convicts my concience why not choose to take that before God and do something about it, rather than speak against it sometimes with more adversity than it is used when standing against evil?
So when I say a better child of God that is what I mean. A transformed creature, one who understands God's good, pleasing and perfect will.(Romans 12:2) The Bible says we were adopted. When a child is adopted, it comes into a new family which he did not belong to by birth. His new family has house rules, relationships and habits, that the new child as a member of the family at least gets familiarised with even if he chooses not to adopt them. When you say something is no longer valid at least you should know what you dismiss, but I ask my brothers to tell me things from the Law that are no longer valid and they haven't got a clue what to answer me. So how can you dismiss something you don't even know? How can you enter into a family enjoy the benefits and forfeit the house rules and habits. You can't use Israel's promises if you separate yourself from Israel. It is not fine and dandy to cross their name off and add yours instead because Jeremiah 29:11 sounds good to your ears, but Deuteronomy and Leviticus does not.
For those with their stones prepared to throw at me (as it happens every time I write about Israel), I am not publishing your comments because nothing antisemitic will sit next to the name of Israel on my blog. I think my older brothers suffered enough at our hands, to allow their name to be tarnished again on something that is mine. I could debate with you, I could ask you how come you become rude and aggressive when its about them? What makes you react like that? But as I mentioned before this blog is called Road Signs- Emanuela's Journey. It is my journey, my questions and my answers. And it is as simple as if you don't like what you read, don't read it anymore and focus instead on your journey, your questions and your answers.

Emma