Desperate Soul That I Am
"I Love you"
Those words don't belong on some ad for jewelry, or for Valentine's Day chocolates and cards. They don't belong in every sermon that was ever preached, either. They belong on the hearts of people who have felt God moving through their lives, who share His Love with those they speak those words to.
I used to look for love. In high school, I wanted to be asked to a banquet. That never happened. I don't care if other girls pretended not to care - we all did. Only the sexy ones got asked, and only by the sexy guys, and I'm sure that at least half of those couples were having sex anyway. That just wasn't me, so love wasn't for me either, I presumed.
I used to wait for love. In my early and mid 20's, since I couldn't get a date locally (and didn't really like any of the local guys anyway), I joined a bunch of Adventist and Christian singles sites. At first, I did contact a few men, but no one got back to me. So, I gave up and said "if he's out there, he'll search for me, find me, contact me and then life will move on from there."
I used to long for love. In my late 20's, I slowly started to just give up. What was the point? No one had ever really wanted me, so why bother thinking anyone ever would? It's not like the world was going to turn upside down for me all the sudden! So, my heart just lived in a broken stuper. Eventually, I gave up on love and on any notion that God had any sense of Love for me at all. Oh, He existed! He died for my sins committed before baptism! (These are all things I believed at the time.) But He didn't love me enough to give me the one thing I was missing in my life - a man who would genuinely and truly love me, no matter what, who would be exactly everything I had ever really wanted, and who would marry me.
I used to learn about love. Durring the last year, I've learned that only God can Love me so perfectly, without error, that He's everything I ever asked Him for, and that He even wanted to become One with me! Me!!! Someone that no one else had wanted? What in the world? Why? It's not like I'd never made mistakes in my search for love! Didn't He want a perfect example of His Bride? How could I be that?
Now I Live Love. I used to belief that love was impossible. I had no idea that I AM a perfect example of His Bride, Israel. Go through Her history! Herstory!!! Her Story!!! My story. What is the reason for the Messiah? The Redeeming Kinsman? The Lamb of God? Is it merely to take away people's sins? Nay. Look at Song of Solomon. It DRIPS (quite litterally!) with the LOVE between God and Israel, His Beloved Ones! Yes, you gentiles may enter the Temple, but who's Temple? God's, yes, but Israel's, also. Not yours. Hers and His. Make no mistake - watering down the Jewish Gospel, the story of 'HVH and Isra 'El, will only leave you broken and in theological ruins. I invite you to travel in your mind to Her gates, Her waters, Her gardens, and Her people - you can't then look away from the truth! What difference does it make?
God HAS Saved His Beloved Bride, His Queen! His love is too Powerful for her weak will! Why then, does she deny her Savior? She doesn't understand His Feelings of Love - yet His Love does not diminish in depth, power, or strength! She needs only to SEE His Love and what it does to His Heart when she doesn't recognise His Love for her! She needs only to HEAR the broken tone (shofar's explained) in His Voice as it sinks into His Holy Mind what it means to do SO MUCH for her, only to have her misunderstand! She needs only to have a chance to hold and be held, to cry out and be tenderly told
"I Love you."
What then, does this mean for those of us who call ourselves Christians? Do we continue to ignore HIS QUEEN, steal her Messiah by calling Him by His Greek name, and dress Him up like a German or a European man whenever we portray Him? Do we continue to make Judas out to look THE MOST JEWISH in every film we create? In every painting we paint? In every story we tell? Do we continue to equate Jews with the Holocaust, as if Jewish life didn't continue for the survivors and their descendance after that? Do we continue to turn a blind eye to even the American relatives of Israelis being slaughtered in their OWN HOMELAND???
Do we, as Adventists (if you could call me that for a breif moment), continue to enjoy the great divide between our Christian churches (the majority) and our Jewish-Adventist temples? Do we continue to mix the "Salvation which is of the Jews" with pagan rites and practices from times of old, and then tell our Jewish friends to forever put down their talit's (prayer shawls) and "follow" us? What do WE know of THEIR, I say T. H. E. I. R.!!!, Messiah, Yeshua Hamoshiach! Oh, we have our great theologans (who don't know any Hebraic culture at all) and we have our great preachers (who borrow sermon notes from each other instead of really researching anything for themselves), and so forth! But, did it ever cross ANYONE'S minds to do the obviouse, and simply GO ASK A JEW or A RABBI??? Amazingly, yes, you can do that. And even more astoundingly, yes, many times they have answers to our questions without even realizing it themselves.
I want to challenge you severely. Go make friends with a Jew and find out for yourself what the words "I Love you" really mean.
"I Love you, child of Israel"
- Caroline, 2006
This is a PhotoShop colored version of my pencil drawing of Yeshua HaMoshiach, the Rabbi, holding a small Jewish girl. The "turbin" is one that was typically worn by Jewish Rabbis of that period. The garment with the blue stripes is a short talit gadol, which could have been any color, though it was probably a dusty white. The tunic underneath could have been any color, I chose green for fun. The beard had to be a certain length before a Jewish man of at least the age of 30 could become a Rabbi. The eyes are a dark brown, as is the curly hair. The braids were and are typically worn by Natzratti men (Nazarite men) regardless of whether they had ever taken vows or not. The girl's hair is long and curly and very full, which is typical of Semetic women's hair. On the other hand, typically, Semetic men's hair is rather thin, although neither case is an absolute rule. The skin is much darker than even typical Israeli's of today, mainly because most modern Israel's recent ancestors are of mixed Jewish and European blood. It is more likely that Yeshua's skin was much darker.
Those words don't belong on some ad for jewelry, or for Valentine's Day chocolates and cards. They don't belong in every sermon that was ever preached, either. They belong on the hearts of people who have felt God moving through their lives, who share His Love with those they speak those words to.
I used to look for love. In high school, I wanted to be asked to a banquet. That never happened. I don't care if other girls pretended not to care - we all did. Only the sexy ones got asked, and only by the sexy guys, and I'm sure that at least half of those couples were having sex anyway. That just wasn't me, so love wasn't for me either, I presumed.
I used to wait for love. In my early and mid 20's, since I couldn't get a date locally (and didn't really like any of the local guys anyway), I joined a bunch of Adventist and Christian singles sites. At first, I did contact a few men, but no one got back to me. So, I gave up and said "if he's out there, he'll search for me, find me, contact me and then life will move on from there."
I used to long for love. In my late 20's, I slowly started to just give up. What was the point? No one had ever really wanted me, so why bother thinking anyone ever would? It's not like the world was going to turn upside down for me all the sudden! So, my heart just lived in a broken stuper. Eventually, I gave up on love and on any notion that God had any sense of Love for me at all. Oh, He existed! He died for my sins committed before baptism! (These are all things I believed at the time.) But He didn't love me enough to give me the one thing I was missing in my life - a man who would genuinely and truly love me, no matter what, who would be exactly everything I had ever really wanted, and who would marry me.
I used to learn about love. Durring the last year, I've learned that only God can Love me so perfectly, without error, that He's everything I ever asked Him for, and that He even wanted to become One with me! Me!!! Someone that no one else had wanted? What in the world? Why? It's not like I'd never made mistakes in my search for love! Didn't He want a perfect example of His Bride? How could I be that?
Now I Live Love. I used to belief that love was impossible. I had no idea that I AM a perfect example of His Bride, Israel. Go through Her history! Herstory!!! Her Story!!! My story. What is the reason for the Messiah? The Redeeming Kinsman? The Lamb of God? Is it merely to take away people's sins? Nay. Look at Song of Solomon. It DRIPS (quite litterally!) with the LOVE between God and Israel, His Beloved Ones! Yes, you gentiles may enter the Temple, but who's Temple? God's, yes, but Israel's, also. Not yours. Hers and His. Make no mistake - watering down the Jewish Gospel, the story of 'HVH and Isra 'El, will only leave you broken and in theological ruins. I invite you to travel in your mind to Her gates, Her waters, Her gardens, and Her people - you can't then look away from the truth! What difference does it make?
God HAS Saved His Beloved Bride, His Queen! His love is too Powerful for her weak will! Why then, does she deny her Savior? She doesn't understand His Feelings of Love - yet His Love does not diminish in depth, power, or strength! She needs only to SEE His Love and what it does to His Heart when she doesn't recognise His Love for her! She needs only to HEAR the broken tone (shofar's explained) in His Voice as it sinks into His Holy Mind what it means to do SO MUCH for her, only to have her misunderstand! She needs only to have a chance to hold and be held, to cry out and be tenderly told
"I Love you."
What then, does this mean for those of us who call ourselves Christians? Do we continue to ignore HIS QUEEN, steal her Messiah by calling Him by His Greek name, and dress Him up like a German or a European man whenever we portray Him? Do we continue to make Judas out to look THE MOST JEWISH in every film we create? In every painting we paint? In every story we tell? Do we continue to equate Jews with the Holocaust, as if Jewish life didn't continue for the survivors and their descendance after that? Do we continue to turn a blind eye to even the American relatives of Israelis being slaughtered in their OWN HOMELAND???
Do we, as Adventists (if you could call me that for a breif moment), continue to enjoy the great divide between our Christian churches (the majority) and our Jewish-Adventist temples? Do we continue to mix the "Salvation which is of the Jews" with pagan rites and practices from times of old, and then tell our Jewish friends to forever put down their talit's (prayer shawls) and "follow" us? What do WE know of THEIR, I say T. H. E. I. R.!!!, Messiah, Yeshua Hamoshiach! Oh, we have our great theologans (who don't know any Hebraic culture at all) and we have our great preachers (who borrow sermon notes from each other instead of really researching anything for themselves), and so forth! But, did it ever cross ANYONE'S minds to do the obviouse, and simply GO ASK A JEW or A RABBI??? Amazingly, yes, you can do that. And even more astoundingly, yes, many times they have answers to our questions without even realizing it themselves.
I want to challenge you severely. Go make friends with a Jew and find out for yourself what the words "I Love you" really mean.
"I Love you, child of Israel"
- Caroline, 2006
This is a PhotoShop colored version of my pencil drawing of Yeshua HaMoshiach, the Rabbi, holding a small Jewish girl. The "turbin" is one that was typically worn by Jewish Rabbis of that period. The garment with the blue stripes is a short talit gadol, which could have been any color, though it was probably a dusty white. The tunic underneath could have been any color, I chose green for fun. The beard had to be a certain length before a Jewish man of at least the age of 30 could become a Rabbi. The eyes are a dark brown, as is the curly hair. The braids were and are typically worn by Natzratti men (Nazarite men) regardless of whether they had ever taken vows or not. The girl's hair is long and curly and very full, which is typical of Semetic women's hair. On the other hand, typically, Semetic men's hair is rather thin, although neither case is an absolute rule. The skin is much darker than even typical Israeli's of today, mainly because most modern Israel's recent ancestors are of mixed Jewish and European blood. It is more likely that Yeshua's skin was much darker.
posted by Caroline Talita Ishshah | 6:32 AM
1 Comments:
I pray for healing between Christians who have ignored Jews, and between Jews who have felt ignored by Christians. And for healing for Jewish Christians, too. Everyone has been through quite a rough ride here on earth. I praise Him for making us one and bringing us out of divisions against each other. Seeing His love for us all stops us.
I am so happy that Jesus is the One who owns us all, who made us all, who loves us all, and gave Himself for us all. I praise Him because no one of anyone's pictures encapsulates Him---instead He encapsulates us. It's such an incredible relief to know this, to look to Him instead of any of our pictures (mental or cultural images) of Him.
I'm praying this for the country I live in now. Over here in Japan, many people have the idea that Christianity is a western thing, but it's not. They don't know that Jesus created the Japanese people, and that there is something fundamentally Japanese in God's heart. Part of their heart (the very deepest part) is made in His image, and longs to rest in Him and serve Him. I wrote a little bit about it on an old introduction to another page.
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