The Difference
“How often I desired to gather your children in the way a bird gathers her chicks from under her wings.And you did not desire it.”Matthew 23:37
Did Not Desire – My wife and I had a 3AM conversation.Obviously, it was serious.She pointed out, rightly so, that I struggle with the willingness to remove those fall-back habits in my life when I am under severe stress. I am most vulnerable when I feel I am not up to the job or I am not good enough. She pointed out that this has been an issue all my life.Of course, she’s right.I have struggled with perceived inadequacy as long as I can remember.But at 3AM in the morning, it isn’t about childhood. It’s about hypocrisy. My ‘ezer observed that I have a difficult time living up to the stuff I write. She was doing her job as the grinding wheel. 3AM conversations are the application of serious grit, not easy polishing. She said, “Until you really want to change, it just won’t happen.” Jesus said the same thing. In translation, the Greek word points out the difference between saying I want to change and being totally committed to making the change happen.
Matthew uses the Greek verb thelo. It’s translated “to will, to wish, to desire.” There’s another Greek verb that means almost the same thing. It is boulomai. But there is a difference. Thelo implies the action necessary to accomplish the desire. I don’t just want something. I go after it and get it. It is purposeful action toward a goal. Boulomai also means desire, but it does not imply I actually do something about it. There is no consequent action. I often say I want to play the blues, but if I don’t pick up the guitar, take the lessons and fight my way through the riffs, my desire is boulomai, not thelo.
Jesus desired to draw the children of Jerusalem to Himself. The word is thelo. He did something about His desire. He died. But the children of Jerusalem did not desire (thelo) to be gathered. They expressed religious sentiments. They attended to the ceremonies and the rituals. They spoke the right God-language.But they fell under boulomai – their desire was never converted into action.
This small shift in meaning is the essential core of a lot of repetitive sinful behavior. Those of us who have been awakened to the realm of the Spirit know the difference between good and bad. We don’t usually sin in ignorance. We sin in defiance. We simply aren’t willing (thelo) to give it up. Yeshua has done all that needs to be done to rescue us from our tragic state of existence, but we aren’t buying. Why? Because we really aren’t willing to change. We want the benefits of grace without the pain and suffering of repentance. We want the Messiah without the blood. As Albert King used to say, “Everybody wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die.”
Yeshua spilled His blood so that I would be able to spill mine. That’s right. He didn’t die so I could skate into Paradise. He died so I could endure the agony of redemption. He died to show me the way through the pain. When I accept His gift, my standing before the Judge of all Mankind is changed. I am forgiven. But I must still be transformed if I want to know what it’s like to have the Spirit living through me. And that will hurt. Jerusalem will not give up its children without a fight. It is blood sport. For those who have been redeemed, the victory is guaranteed, but that doesn’t remove us from the battle, does it? Are you willing?
Topical Index:desire, will, thelo, boulomai,transformation, Matthew 23:37
Matt 23:3 “Therefore all that they tell you, do and observe, but do not do according to their deeds; for they say {things} and do not do {them.}”
Whenever I read Matt 23:3, it makes me think of my favorite movie, “Heat” by Michael Mann (1995), and the main character, Al Pacino.
Pacino plays a public servant, Lt. Vincent Hanna, who is a big believer in the Law and takes his job as a police detective very seriously.
Unfortunately, Pacino is in the process of breaking up with his third wife and has made a mess of just about everything else in his life.
But Pacino’s one redeeming quality comes straight out of Matt 23:3; as he tells us in no uncertain terms: “I say what I mean, and I do what I say.”
Hello Skip:
Your vulnerability is a real eye opener for all of us. You have a very loving wife who cares enough to share her concerns, and you care enough to listen.
I am just about finished with a wondeful book I picked up in a Ross Department Store (they have a lot of Chrisian books). Have you heard of “Christ Empowered Living” by Selwyn Hughes. He has a way of expressing God in a way that is very enlightening. It’s another one of those books about finding significance in God, but the uniqueness of his writing and his insights add a deep element in an eye opening way.
I have gleened so much from this book and his way with words is amazingly captivating. He touches upon what your wife shared with you
God bless, Ellen
Ellen,
For many years my wife and I have enjoyed using (and being challenged by) the Every Day With Jesus devotionals written by the late Selwyn Hughes. He died in 2006 but the publishers are recycling material from his 40 years of writings – I thoroughly recommend them. They are published six times a year, and every two months has a different theme. He had (and still has) a wonderful ministry. If you need more details let me know!
Inadequacy is more than ‘perceived’. We are completely unable to do even that which we wish with all our hearts to do…It isn’t that we are unwilling to give up our sin ~ it’s that we are unwilling to die to self. Unwilling to die to control. We want to be able to take credit for the change…we believe that our work can somehow be robes of righteousness rather than filthy rags.
we resent our inadequacy and our need. we resent ‘total dependence’ on Grace.
Deep within my heart i want to ‘go after it’ and prove that i can do it by my effort.
Jesus Says, “come to me” Soli Deo Gloria.
Thank God you got a good wife. When you are weakest he is the strongest. If you had all the battles won you wouldn’t need God, so put on the battle gear and fight. You do not live under condemnation but under grace. Do the right thing according to God, live in peace and enjoy your life.
Many of us who are “followers of the Way”, have recognized and realized there are many who have gone before us on this “aliyah”, this journey through this “vale of tears”. We are not alone- we are in this together. With a nod toward Rick Warren- “it’s not about me”, (it’s not about you), but- (love those big Bible buts!), it is about us. “We” are the children of G-d. There is only one perfect man who ever lived and I have come to the (crisis) point in my life to know Who this is. It is not me, it is not you, it is Jesus who is the Christ. G-d has promised (and He never lies!- Numbers 23.19), according to His words found in Jeremiah 23.19- “And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.” This “desiring”, this “seeking”, and this “finding”, I cannot even do for my children. The way is so narrow it can only be entered one at a time and so low, we must humble ourselves to enter. G-d judges the thoughts and intents of my heart. What is my desire? “Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart” we read in Psalm 37:4. Where do we find our “delight?” – and who is this “desire of nations?” (Haggai 2.7). Yeshua said, (are we listening to His words?)- “thou shalt love the Lord thy G-d with ALL thy heart, soul, mind and strength and love your neighbor as yourself.” Total surrender is the way to victory. -G-d is able if we are willing. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this. This is no easy path. “Aliyah” is uphill. We are in this together and now- to finish with some “good news”- G-d is with us,G-d is for us and G-d is in us. It is -“Christ in you- the hope of glory”.
Greetings to everyone!!!
After 155 pages, Dr. Jacob Needlelman write in his book, “Lost Christianity”: “The conclusion is that the teachings of Christ as we know them are meant for people of a higher level than we ourselves. And the lost element in Christianity is the specific methods and ideas that can, first, show us the subhuman level which we actually exist and, second, lead us toward the level at which the teachings of Christ can be followed in fact, rather than imagination.
In brief, there are levels of Christianity. Failure to understand what this means has led to the distortions of the Christian teachings, with all that implies in the collective history of Western civilization.” (page155.7)
Shalom….
Levels of Christianity… not sure I understand that. What level was Paul at, relative to the believers in Corinth?
Contemporary (that’s within the last 1000 years) rabbinic thinking suggests that there are four levels of understanding Scripture. They are Pashat (the surface), Remez (the hints at other things), D’resh (the searching for deeper things) and Sod (mystery – actually a Hebrew word that is associated with the counsel of God, therefore, mystery in that sense). Those who embrace all four levels often consider Yeshua a master of the four – and therefore they look for Sod in His teachings. Often they find it. But this is a progression from ancient rabbinic Judaism.
If we use those four levels to categorize the people who pursue the Lord, then we have four levels of followers. But that’s a big IF. Yeshua Himself doesn’t seem to make such a distinction. While it’s true that the parables are only for those who have ears to hear, He also invites all who want to follow Him to come – and be a Body without distinctions.
It’s all about perspective. But the perspective can never replace the desire for unity at the heart of Yeshua (john 17)
Hello!!!
Dr. Needleman is not talking about PARDES. We know that you have a lot of things to do, but in one shabbat you can take a look at Needleman’s book (you have it in your library) and will discover the meaning of his words in the section that I quote.
Shabbat Shalom
Hi Ismael,
Haven’t heard from you for a while until just recently and wanted to thank you for always recommending books, especially “Sefer Yetsirah” and “Kabbalah of Yeshua.”
I’m currently reading The Letter Writer (Hegg) and The First Paul (Crossan), which are also new purchases; don’t like to buy books when I’m not working, but couldn’t resist the temptation any longer.
Sefer Yesirah looks very interesting; a kind of source book for certain codes that one tends to come across but can’t connect to a context, at least I can’t.
Aryeh Kaplan’s book, K of Y, is interesting and not without certain insights, but on the whole I find his approach a bit simple minded; and his reading of the apostles too ahistorical.
Regarding the current discussion of “levels of meanings,” it seems to me that we are talking about three different things (A, B, C).
A. I thought Rick was asking a simpler question: what level of intellect/understanding did Paul have compared to “normal” believers of his time.
In which case, I would compare St. Paul to Marx, Freud, or Einstein in the modern world; in other words, Paul was a revolutionary thinker who changed the way we think about things.
B. I think Skip’s reference to “levels of meaning” refers to how we take a story, a narrative in “time,” and talk about it abstractly in “space.”
1. On the “literal” level, we have to determine what the text says; not an easy task when it is in Hebrew/Greek, but important and at times difficult in any case.
2. On the “allegorical” level, we typically have to “decode” the meaning of certain “key” words, or find the hidden/deep meanings of metaphors, before we can interpret a text.
3. On the “moral” level, we tend to want to apply the meaning of a text to our everyday lives as individuals; to ask ourselves how a text should change the way we act or think about things.
4. On the “spiritual/historical” level, we try to determine the ultimate significance of a text for the community as a whole; to determine what effect the text might/should have on the history of the world and possibly the hereafter.
C. I think you are talking about “levels of consciousness” or the the “structure of the soul,” and readings of texts that reveal an awareness of these things (10 Sefirot or 7- 10 Chakras).
In any case, thanks again for sharing.
Mike
And thanks for your welcomed analysis
Dear Skip,
I felt your pain today and wish you well. In all my reading and understanding of scripture I cannot find any justification for a triune God. Instead, the overwhelming evidence is a family of God the father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Can you help me?
Bill
Help you understand the G-d who is? I will point you towards His book and then encourage you to ask Him (just like Moses did) (if you desire this) toward a deeper and more intimate understanding. There is no bottom and there is no top, but it sure is an adventure as we learn what it means to walk by faith and not by sight. G-d is not out to hide himself, the entire book is meant to be G-d’s revelation of Himself. BTW.. “G-d was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself”..
Hi Bill,
Most theologians will readily admit that the doctrine of the Trinity is a construct used to explain the collection of evidence from the text. Of course, you won’t find any DIRECT statements about the Trinity because the Bible is a STORY, not a systematic theology. But you will find hints (remember remez). All of those hints are like collecting evidence for the Special Theory of Relativity. There are no billboards in space that say, “Look, the universe operates according to the Special Theory,” but there is a lot of evidence – evidence that emerged after the mathematics was discovered.
Still, we would like God to just tell us, wouldn’t we? Instead, He chooses to hint about the structure and tell us about what really matters – how to come into His presence.
I like the analogy with Special Relativity, Skip. It’s very apt.
Amazingly self revealing Skip. I often pray a prayer for my self that I first heard John Wimber mention. “God, help me grow up before I grow old.”
Thank you for this, Skip. If anyone of us reading this cannot relate in humility, we are unconscious!
“since all have sinned and come short of earning God’s praise.”
– Romans 3:23 – CJB
Skip,
Being REAL is what we need. God’s WORD is a real Word. It tells us who we are, how we are, and what to do with who we are. Too many of us live or have a tendancy to live in denial. Thanks for being real and opening up. Many are defeated for resisting what God wants to do within us. Pruning is painful but thanks be to God who gives us the power to be conformed to the image of our example, Jesus Christ! Thank God we can recognize His powerful and strong arm and His staff that leads us in the way we should go. Bless you and all the family as you keep pressing forward and aiming for the high calling of the Lord Jesus.
Greetings!!!
When we consider something obvious is easy to don’t detect it. Jesus has a group of three (Peter, John and James) that learned “some things” that the other nine did not learn and Paul’s talk of two differents groups, particularly in the letter to the Church at Corinth. Maybe we don’t like this type of interpretation but you can see it clearly if we let the text speak.
True love is a relationship, love is never forced and YHWH never forces His love upon us. “Behold, I stand at the door and knock” the scriptures say. Don’t you wonder “Why is He standing at the door when He could so easily enter (after all He is G-d!). We are made for relationship. Husband to wife, wife to husband, brothers and sisters, lovers and friends. Relationships abound. Not to mention the ecological relationships found in nature, the microbiological relationships found within the human body, the planetory relationships found throughout the solar system and beyond. “if you be willing and obedient you shall eat the good of the land”, gives us a clue as to our part of this relationship. We could also view this another way and say “if you do what I say, you will be blessed”, or if you believe what I say and listen to me and walk in my ways your right choices will result in good consequences. G-d knows our hearts and he knows our innermost dreams and desires. There is nothing hid from Him. Does this bother you or does this bless you? Do any of us have any “perfect” children? Do you love your (imperfect) kids as much as I love mine? What is your “desire” for them? How we love spending time with them and delight in giving them gifts. Our heavenly Father also does this. “Christianity” is not a religion. It is a relationship. A sinful man (me) able to come before a thrice-holy G-d through the propitiating and atoning Sacrifice of the perfect Lamb of G-d who shed the very blood of G-d on the execution stake and then three days later walked out of a borrowed tomb in glorious victory. “Whosoever will” is His open invitation to us today. He is able if we are willing. What is the desire of my heart? Who is the desire of my heart?
Dear Skip,
I really appreciate your personal sharing and dedication to change. I really get this one. After a series of business disappointments and dwindling finances in Waco I made the decision to move to Austin. More disappointments followed there. I had no more tricks up my sleeve. I distinctly heard the Father’s voice telling me to get out of Austin. Then he opened the door to move to the country. I am staying with a couple that is deeply aware of the necessity of change in their spiritual/physical walk–they are having to change their diet for serious health reasons. I am staying in a travel trailer. Every day is in the 100’s. I am in a barren, dried up wilderness way, way out in the country. Can’t go walking because it is too hot and the rattle snakes and feral pigs. There is no place to run, hide or get worldly entertainment. All they have is YHWH, His Son and Holy Spirit. I have literally been forced to take a look at the dark inside of myself and make changes, not just trying. This is truly one of the most blessed times in my life. These people know that without Yeshua’s Ezer we couldn’t make the necessary changes. Please share more about how the Ezer is helping you be congruent with what you teach .
Shalom,
Robin
Greetings to everyone
If we take a look at ourselves, as a micro cosmos of HaShem creation, we can find that we are one soul with differents levels. It is very important to understand that we are ONE soul with differents levels. From bottom to top: nefesh, ruach, neshama, chayah and yeshidah. There are good Jewish writers, where we can find excellent information about this theme. I would like to mention one of them: Jay Michaelson, “God in Your Body. Kabbalah, Mindfulness and Embodied Spiritual Practice.” ISBN 13:978-1-58023-304-0
Thanks…
Hi Ismael,
I’m also happy to read your comments again, I have missed them!:)
I just finished reading The Science of God. I was really struck by the fact that modern physics is beginning to agree with Nachmanides comments on Genesis. Physics wasn’t even a science yet and Nachmanides came to this understanding of the Genesis scripture that is only now coming to be revealed in physics. As it was stated in Daniel 12:4 that in the end times knowledge will increase.
Let us never again put God in a box, and refuse to see that God is showing Himself to us if we want to see.
Shabbat Shalom Skip,
“Yeshua spilled His blood so that I would be able to spill mine. That’s right. He didn’t die so I could skate into Paradise. He died so I could endure the agony of redemption. He died to show me the way through the pain.”
You point out one of the great truths for a real believer. That truth of course being that redemption is not easy …. it is brutal and much too difficult for us … praise Yeshua. Yes indeed Yeshua ransomed us with His precious blood! Yes indeed we were healed by His stripes willingly endured! Yes indeed we are brought into reconciliation with ELOHIM by, in and through Yeshua!
But …. this does not mean that our personal battle with, and freedom from, the old creation will be agony free”. It is still very difficult even with Ruach HaKodesh leading and guiding. Casting away this first order of creation for the Kingdom wreaks havoc for a believer (from a psychological and temporal sense). There is no way around this …. if we are for ELOHIM then the world will hate us! Powers and Principalities will actively work against us! On the bright side however … if ELOHIM is for us then who can stand against us? Not meaning that we are invincible but rather that He will stand by us 100% faithful and guarantee our endurance!
Ultimately if we are not changed because of our relationship with Yeshua then chances are that we have no real relationship …. and chances are that we are not redeemed!
Skip … an excellent and sobering analysis …. particularly in light of the doctrine of cheap grace adopted by so many Christian denominations! Those not battling, but simply mouthing the truth, are the luke-warm false believers depicted in Revelations!
Lets face it … being a faithful believer at this stage of the game is just not easy …. and it only get worse!
This answers so many questions for families in counseling..They think they are not supposed to struggle. When they see that struggling IS the program, it relieves a lot of unnecessary stress, leaving more energy for the necessary stress.
Greetings!!!
The reality, in any human being, is determined by his/her capacity to perceive it. This is one reason why Rabbi David Cooper mention that “In the physical world we measure time and space, but in the spiritual dimension we measure levels of consciousness.” My reality is determined by the level of consciousness. And if we make a research of these great minds of humanity and their great discoveries we will find an “easy” answer in theirs levels of consciousness. They discovered what they discovered because of this.
Thank you very much!!
PD Michael the book “Kabbalah of Yeshua” was written by Zusha Kalet, not by Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan.
So many interesting things going on here, but I would like to respond to the “levels of Christianity”, with something that has been of great interest and has fulfilled a need for me. The past few years, I have added Charles H. Spurgeon’ Morning and Evening Devotional to my Oswald Chambers’ one, and Skip;s. I had heard of Spurgeon most of my life, but never read anything of his much, until about five years ago when I visited my granddaughter and her husband’s home, he is a young music minister in Houston. They were actually in another state ministering, and our daughter and my husband and I went to Houston for a funeral. We stayed in their home, and Ed & I slept in their bedroom. I saw by his bedside Spurgeon’s book. I read a few devotionals, and decided the next book gift certificate I got, I would get one. Which I did. Well this one has been valuble to me.
Sept. 9, Morning. ( I am typing the scripture from the Amplified Bible) Jeremiah 33:3, ” Call to Me and I will answer you and show you great and mighty things, fenced in and hidden, which you do not know (do not distinguish and recognize, have knowlege of and understand.)”
“There are different translations of these words. One version renders it, ‘I will show the great and fortified things.’ Another, ‘ Great and reserved things.’ Now, there are reserved and special things in Christian experience: all the developments of spiritual life are not alike easy of attainment. There are the common frames and feelings of repentance, and faith, and joy, and hope, which are enjoyed by the entire family; but there is an upper realm of rapture, of communion, and conscious union with Christ, which is far from being the common dwelling-place of believers.
We have not all the high privilege of John, to lean upon Jesus’ bosom; nor of Paul, to be caught up into the third heaven. There are heights in experimental knowledge of the things of God which the eagle’s eye of acumen and philosophic thought hath never seen. God alone can bear us there; but the chariot in which He takes us up, the fiery steeds with which that chariot is dragged, are prevailing prayers. ————-Prevailing prayer bears the Christian aloft to Pisgah, and shows him the inheritance reserved; it elevates us to Tabor and transfigures us, till in the likeness of his Lord,as He is, so are we also in this world. ( L.B. possible, Mt Tabor, where Jesus was transfigured).
If you would reach to something higher than ordinary grovelling experience, look to the Rock that is higher than you, and gaze with the eye of faith through the window of importunate prayer. When you open the windown on your side, it will not be bolted on the other.”
Charles Spurgeon was born in England in 1834 D. 1892 L.B.
This is something that happens to many of us, and for some reason, the 3 o’clock hour seems pretty prevalent — so much so that my husband and I have named this ‘the 3 o’clock terrors.’ We both know them well, and thank God, it has never happened to both of us at the same time, so we are able to offer comfort and logic to the occasion. It is so comforting that Skip is so open to us and so ‘real.’
Sometimes it is good to go back to “The Velveteen Rabbit” and read the conversation between the rabbit and the wise old skin horse — discussing the process of ‘becoming real.’ It is so easy to see some of the characters around us, like the mechanical toys who boast and swagger and finally break their mainsprings… But becoming real does hurt, and it takes time, and it doesn’t often happen to “people who break easily or have sharp edges or who have to be carefully kept.”
Yes, and so many of us seem to have to be carefully kept. No wonder God has to coddle us. Do we ever turn the tables upside down and notice that those who go through the pain are often the ones God is using the most. We have it backwards. Being blessed with no real suffering is probably a sign of LACK of spiritual stretching.
I am always challenged and blessed by the exchange of comments and views of other believers. On the subject of grace and suffering. The call to
discipleship is a call to suffering but we have a constant source of comfort in the Holy spirit. Salvation is indeed free but it was never cheap.It cost the lifeblood of the precious Son of God who became the son of man so that the sons of men might become the sons of God. There is a gospel of Salvation which Jesus hardly ever referred to but he always talked about the Gospel of the ‘Kingdom’ in his parables and teachings. This is the golden thread which precedes, circumscribes and transcends the scarlet thread of Salvation and Redemption seen from Adam to Christ.
We are saved to produce good fruit which is lasting, brings joy to the Father’s heart and glory to the Son’s name John 15. But first we must abide in the true Vine, the most difficult thing to do. So much easier to flit in and out like a butterfly which I tend so often to do myself.
Bernard
Indian christian in London