This week, a few friends of mine gathered to discuss the book Our Father Abraham. There are 2 aspects to this that makes this pretty amazing. 1- The fact that a group of us are getting together pursuing God together. There is nothing like meeting with others that are passionate about seeking God in His Word and learning what it means to pursue His Kingdom. 2- The content that we are discussing. This book we are going through discusses in depth the Hebraic nature of the Scripture (both content and writers), and also the Hebraic nature of Jesus. Jesus was a Jew, the Bible is written from a Jewish perspective because it was written by Jews. So what does that mean for us? This question frames the book’s intent of helping us understand how the Hebraic nature is important for us to understand God’s Word.
This first meeting was short and more of an introduction, but I want to share a thought that stuck with me.
I find it amazing how ,at times, it is so hard to put Jesus into our lives. I’m not alone. Pretty much everyone I know struggle with the same thing. There is a huge industry of resources that is available to us to teach, influence, encourage, guilt us into including Jesus in our daily walk. By the way, I refer to Jesus, Scripture, and God interchangeably. On Sunday morning across the world, by far most of the sermons address putting God into our lives. There is no doubt that this is a very valid point and very needed, but it can be hard to follow through with. But a point came up in our discussion that the national identity was God. God chose Abraham to be separate and be the father of a nation. So all of the political, geographical, commercial, social, and so on, aspects originated from God through the Torah. What it meant to be a Hebrew was to be in God. What does it mean to be an American? What is our national identity? I realized that this can be a eye opening question. Typically, to be American is to be democratic, a capitalist, free, and civilized. However we identify what it means to be American, we think of ourselves as American trying to live out God. Maybe we should be like the Jews and think of ourselves as God’s children living in America, or where ever you happen to live. Maybe if we can see ourselves as a part of God’s Kingdom first, then we can see past the boundaries that cause us to stumble as a people and a nation. Maybe we’ll see that we are no better than anyone else and are a part of this world like everyone else. Maybe we’ll realize that we all are made in God’s image whether we like, or recognize, it or not. Maybe we’ll humble oursleves, seek God’s face, and hear from Him.
What is your identity. I’m having to rethink mine.
Jim
Good stuff. I think the hardest thing is to realize that our identity starts with God and the cross, not borders and a flag. While our “identity” in culture and society is founded on the freedom of soil and democracy in the land of the free. Our faith is founded on the culture and context of a Hebrew people, creating the greater picture of what we believe. While both help create who we are, our faith in a God and Messiah, now comes to the front, before stars & stripes. This never trumps a spirit of gratitude, celebration and understanding of what we have in our country. This does however, allow us to realize that our identity lies in God and his design, not humans and theirs.
Can’t wait to learn with everyone!