Embrace the Within no. 64

Let this mind be in you, which was also in Moshiach Yeshua: Who, being in the form of God-The Father, thought it not robbery to be equal with God-The Father: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a slave, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the stake (cross).

Philippians 2:5-8 NMV

Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God-The Father through our Lord - Kurios Yeshua Moshiach: By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God-The Father. And not only [so], but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation works patience; And patience, experience; and experience, hope: And hope makes not ashamed; because the love of God-The Father is shed abroad in our hearts by the Ruach HaKodesh which is given unto us.

For when we were yet without strength, in due time Moshiach died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet perhaps for a good man some would even dare to die. But God-The Father commends his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Moshiach died for us.

Romans 5:1-8 NMV

Be you therefore followers of God-The Father, as dear children; And walk in love, as Moshiach also has loved us, and has given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God-The Father for a sweet smelling savour.

Ephesians 5:1-2 NMV

All conflicts are internal conflicts. My internal conflict is starting to feel like an eternal conflict. Daily there is a struggle at certain times to abandon love and surrender to bitterness. There is a time when I fall back into the rut of swinging like the third monkey trying to get on the Ark while the rain begins to fall. And I have to let that swinging go. There is a lot more I need to learn about embracing that what others bring to me is about their internal conflict as well. And letting my internal conflict get in the way of what they bring forward is a disservice to the image of God they possess.

And I believe that is the perspective I need to find with swinging and internal conflicts. We are all image bearers of God whether we embrace that discipleship or not. We can’t deny the image we carry and the image that is visible in the face of each of our neighbors whether saved or struggling. We all are family.

And there are a lot of important pieces I have gathered from the readings above. The first is about service to others. I never feel more close to YHWH than when I am doing something in service of another image bearer. Whether it be picking up trash, cleaning up dinner, helping with homework, explaining a difficult question, giving insight into a text, or just listening to an important story, there are many ways to be of service to other image bearers daily. And when I make a concerted effort to stop worrying about what I think I need to do and focus on what I should be doing in service, I can feel that I am aligned with the Way of the Lord.

Moshiach died for us before we were saved. Moshiach was our servant unto death. He bore the image of God for us to accomplish something we could never do. And he did this in service for all of the image bearers of God. So many times YHWH could have given up on Moses, given up on the tribes, given up on David, or given up on us BUT He never did. He served us as we are to serve each other.

There are many more takeaways from today’s verses, however, I think service is above all and foremost on my mind today. Service to others moves me out of my way and back into The Way of the Lord. And the more I can align with what YHWH wants for my life and the less I can align with what I want, then the better I can serve others in love. And rather than swinging at others like that third monkey trying to save itself, I can sacrifice so that others may be saved.

Shavua tov. Shalom to your home. Bless your being. The reign of YHWH is now. Be a blessing to YHWH and others.

#ThinkBetter #BeBetter #NoGodsNoMasters #MyNepheshMyChoice #ChristsLifeMatters #EmbracetheWithin #NotMyWayYHWH #GodKnows

Embrace the Within no. 63

"I know of nothing which so stimulates my faith in my heavenly Father as to look back and reflect on His faithfulness to me in every crisis and every chilling circumstance of life."

W. Phillip Keller

I am constantly confronted by hypocrisy in others that should also shine a light on my own hypocrisy. BUT often I fail to remember that I am still human like everyone else. Sometimes I forget that I am no different from anyone else. And, at those times, it is easy to see the hypocrisy in others BUT ignore the hypocrisy in myself.

I haven’t been a member of any group absent of hypocrites. There are hypocrites within all groups. And while, in my past, I used to see that as a flaw of the group or the ideology or the principle or the belief or the system, I now see that the presence of hypocrisy is just a feature of having humans involved in the group, ideology, principle, belief, or system. I used to point to the hypocrisy and blame the thing rather than placing blame squarely on myself and every other human.

There is no hypocrisy in YHWH. There is no change in YHWH. He is constant and faithful to His Word. And in my past I spent a lot of time letting human hypocrisy separate me from spiritual constancy. I allowed myself to point at men and women and use their failure, their hypocrisy, their inconsistency as a reason for me to not follow The Way of the Lord. And that was foolishness, on my part, at best. I was letting other people stand between YHWH and me because I thought I was somehow better than those people. I was filled with the pride and self righteousness of my own constancy and faithfulness when that was not the case. I was and am hypocritical still. And that isn’t because I try to be a hypocrite anymore. It isn’t because I intentionally try to be duplicitous and inconsistent. It is merely a case of my own humanity.

Self righteousness can be a struggle. I like to think that all this work I am doing somehow changes my brokenness BUT there is that brokenness no matter what. There is that fallibility. There is that hypocrisy. And I spend a lot of time trying to work on that which often leads to more self righteousness by believing my own hype. Buying into my own self image.

And I need to work a lot more on that humility aspect. I need to work on humbling myself a lot more. I need to remember daily that it is not my work that is getting anything accomplished. It is YHWH that is allowing me to learn and grow in wisdom and truth. There is nothing I am, nothing I was, and nothing I will be that is without Him. And in the daily world of living among humans, I tend to forget that as much as I try to remind myself.

In this week ahead I am going to work on getting my own feelings out of His Way. When someone has a problem with me, I should stop moving into fight mode and into introspection. I am going to focus on what their words reveal about my actions rather than what their words reveal about them. I am going to seek that wisdom this week moving forward in The Way of the Lord.

Shavua tov.

Shalom to your home. Bless your being. The reign of YHWH is now. Be a blessing to YHWH and others.

#ThinkBetter #BeBetter #NoGodsNoMasters #MyNepheshMyChoice #ChristsLifeMatters #EmbracetheWithin #NotMyWayYHWH #GodKnows