“One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?” “The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.” “Well said, teacher,” the man replied. “You are right in saying that God is one and there is no other but him. To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.” When Jesus saw that he had answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And from then on no one dared ask him any more questions.” Mark 12:28-34 👑💞 Are you surprised that a Torah teacher would say that love is more important than bringing a sacrifice to the temple? #obedienceisbetterthansacrifice #torahprinciples #lovethelordwithallyourheartandallyourstrength #dailydevotional #biblegram #gospelgram #instagospel #instabible #shemaisrael #loveisaverb #messianicjudaism #christianity #yeshuahamashiach
THE CURRENT EFFORT of so many religious leaders to harmonize Christianity with science, philosophy and every natural and reasonable thing is, I believe, the result of failure to understand Christianity and, judging from what I have heard and read, failure to understand science and philosophy as well.
At the heart of the Christian system lies the cross of Christ with its divine paradox. The power of Christianity appears in its antipathy toward, never in its agreement with, the ways of fallen men. The truth of the cross is revealed in its contradictions. The witness of the church is most effective when she declares rather than explains, for the gospel is addressed not to reason but to faith. What can be proved requires no faith to accept. Faith rests upon the character of God, not upon the demonstrations of laboratory or logic.
The cross stands in bold opposition to the natural man. Its philosophy runs contrary to the processes of the unregenerate mind, so that Paul could say bluntly that the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness. To try to find a common ground between the message of the cross and man’s fallen reason is to try the impossible, and if persisted in must result in an impaired reason, a meaningless cross and a powerless Christianity.
But let us bring the whole matter down from the uplands of theory and simply observe the true Christian as he puts into practice the teachings of Christ and His apostles. Note the contradictions:
The Christian believes that in Christ he has died, yet he is more alive than before and he fully expects to live forever. He walks on earth while seated in heaven and though born on earth He finds that after his conversion he is not at home here. Like the nighthawk, which in the air is the essence of grace and beauty but on the ground is awkward and ugly, so the Christian appears at his best in the heavenly places but does not fit well into the ways of the very society into which he was born.
#awtozer #tozer #dailydevotional #biblegram #instabible #gospelgram #instagospel #faithinjesus #yeshuahamashiach #messianicjew #messianic #christianlife
In Mark 10:17 a man asks Yeshua what he should do to inherit eternal life. Yeshua refers him to Torah observance. In Luke 10:25 a different man asks the same question and Yeshua again refers him to Torah observance. In Mark 12:28-34 Yeshua has an exchange with yet another man in which Yeshua tells the man that he is ‘not far from the Kingdom of Heaven’ bc the man understands Torah observance is important to Yah. Now here in John 5 He does not dispute those who are angry with him for thinking that the scriptures have eternal life, rather He aligns himself with those scriptures. Later on in John 14:6 He declares again that He is the path to eternal life as well as life itself. John, in fact, begins with the statement that Yeshua is the Word made flesh – the Word which brings eternal life.
Why do the people in these passages believe that the Scriptures contain eternal life - specifically the Torah? In Dt. 5:33 and 6:24 Moses instructs Israel that obedience is to Yah’s requirements is the pathway to life. The prophets and writers repeat this theme. This is WHY Yeshua always referred people back to the Word. In Mk 10 Yeshua follows up his directive obey the Word with an invitation to follow Him, b/c if a person is committed to obeying the Scriptures then he would be willing to follow Yeshua.
Returning to John 5 we read that Yeshua says that those who are unwilling to follow Him do not have faith in the very Scriptures they are studying! Not only do they lack faith, but they also lack a spirit of obedience (v42 “the love of God”). James highlights this point in his letter – faith and obedience cannot be separated. If you lack one then you lack the other, b/c obedience without faith is not obedience but rather that fraudulent fellow we know by the name of Legalism. And faith without obedience is the ever popular imposter known as Spiritualism. ⬇️⬇️⬇️ #biblestudy #torahstudy #messianicjudaism #hebrewroots #yeshuahamashiach #biblegram #instabible #dailydevotional #shemaisrael #messianicjew #studytoshowthyselfapproved #eternallife #jesusistheway #doersoftheword #faithinjesus #gospelgram #inthebeginningwastheword #jesusistheword ⬇️⬇️⬇️
Such a simple litmus test here by John Bunyan. How can you distinguish right from wrong? The right way is straight. The right thing to do is selected from a very narrow set of choices. In many cases there is only one right thing to do or one right way to proceed. We tend to over complicate things. Why? Bc the right thing to do is many times difficult. It costs us something. But the more often we choose the narrow way the easier it is to detect. And the more often we do the narrow thing the less difficult it is until it becomes the only way for us. All other options disappear. The crooked and wide way becomes abhorrent to us and is no longer even considered a “choice”. Don’t allow circumstances, emotions, or any other thing cloud the issue. What does the Bible say to do? Do that. 📖“Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.”
Matthew 7:13-14 📖 #johnbunyan #pilgrimsprogress #gospelgram #biblegram #instagospel #straightandnarrow #shemaisrael #preparationday #setapart #wayoflife #holiness #righteousness #obedienceisbetterthansacrifice #followerofchrist #followmeasifollowchrist #fmf #followmefriday #flashbackfriday #returntotheancientpath #dailydevotional
