Shalom all,
has been a while since I've been here, have been crazy busy with my hotel.
Thought I'd share some thoughts I've recently had with you all, I think they cme as a result of me being 'so busy' that I have forgotten what is most important...
What are you willing to give up?
Let’s take a look at the first of the Ten Commandments (Ex 20:2-3):
ב אָנֹכִי יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ, אֲשֶׁר הוֹצֵאתִיךָ מֵאֶרֶץ מִצְרַיִם מִבֵּית עֲבָדִים: לֹא-יִהְיֶה לְךָ אֱלֹהִים אֲחֵרִים, עַל-פָּנָי.
I am YHWH your Elohim, I who took you from the land of Egypt from the house of slavery: you will have no other Elohim, against my face.
Then take a look at Mark 12:30
καὶ ἀγαπήσεις Κύριον τὸν Θεόν σου ἐξ ὅλης τῆς καρδίας σου καὶ ἐξ ὅλης τῆς ψυχῆς σου καὶ ἐξ ὅλης τῆς διανοίας σου καὶ ἐξ ὅλης τῆς ἰσχύος σου. αὔτη πρώτη ἐντολή.
And you shall love יהוה your Elohim with all your heart, and with all your being, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first command. (translation from The Scriptures)
Many people have written about what this actually means, the significance of these passages and how YHWH is to be first in our lives, so I ask the question:
What are you willing to give up?
If YHWH really is to be our only Elohim, and we will hold no other Elohim in his face, what is he asking us to do. If, like me, YHWH is who you turn to when you remember his existence, and is not always you first point of call, then he is not your only Elohim.
In nearly all situations, my first Elohim is me. I trust my own instincts, my own actions, my own words and my own thoughts. I am my own Elohim, I know best.
I have very little time for ‘saints’, as a general rule, if I see the word saint a wry smile comes to me, along with a mental picture of a dead old man/woman dressed in black. The Catholics didn’t always get it wrong however, Francis of Assisi is probably one of the most famous ‘saints’. He gave up everything to follow ‘the lord’.
I have fought incredibly hard for my little flat, for my clothes, for my jeans that fit just right. I have bitched and moaned about lost opportunities and financial struggles. I look forward to coming home and getting into my bed, even if I do not sleep very well. I do not want to give up my jeans, my bed, my cup of hot coffee in the morning or my laptop. I do not want to give up my tidy life, I have been through too much and worked too hard for it all.
I have been through disbelief and near bankruptcy, I have been in pain and I have run away. I feel like I have found myself and I have certainly found יהוה and יהשוע , so why should I have to give up more. I know my Elohim and I know his salvation, I have it all.
But I don’t.
I was not inside the head of Francis of Assisi, and I do not know if he was his own Elohim, but he at least could say that his ‘lord’ was more important than his mortgage and his next meal.
How many of us can say the same?
When I think about it, my material goods and me ‘life’ are more important than YHWH, I love what I am doing and I am thankful to YHWH for it, for I realise that it has come from him. And yet, my thanks are empty.
יהשוע did not come to bring peace, he came that he might take upon himself the burden of our self-righteousness, in other words, our ‘sin’.
I am not about to go wandering naked into the desert, but I have realised one very important thing, if I love anything enough that I think about that, more than I think about YHWH, that I consider the consequences for my flat before I ask whether my actions are coming from my own righteousness or YHWH’s, then I am holding another Elohim up before him.
Then again, naked in the desert, all I have is YHWH, the Hebrews learned it by wandering for 40 years. How long will we take and how much are we prepared to lose?
I can only ask that one day with YHWH's help, I will be prepared to lose it all, and gain everything.