From Parasha: Ki Tisa

 

Unchecked Spiritual Impulses

Tags:  faith, idolatary, inclinations, intentions, living water, Mount Sinai, spirituality

Spirituality is a natural human reflex--as instinctual as eating, drinking and breathing. We are preprogrammed for spiritual awareness. Yet without revelation, our spiritual inclination is merely an appetite for which there is not satiation, a thirst for which cannot be slaked. Messiah is the living water. "He who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst." (John 6:35)...
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Oil of Gladness

Tags:  annointing, christos, mashiach

The Sages teach that in the month of Adar, joy increases. In Adar we celebrate the festival of Purim, a happy time of joy and gladness, as it is written [in Esther 8:17], "There was gladness and joy for the Jews, a feast and a holiday!" Joy is one of the foundations of our messianic faith. What better time to celebrate our joy in Messiah than in the joyous month of Adar at the joyous festival of Purim!...
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The Word Made Stone

Tags:  Mount Sinai, repentance, word made flesh

In his first descent from Mount Sinai, Moses carried the tablets of the Torah, which he broke when he saw the golden calf. His descent was purposeful. He knew of the sin of Israel merited the wrath of God. Moses came down to call them to repentance and to avert disaster. He was on an urgent mission to save Israel and to restore the covenant. In his ascent, he carried new stone tablets that God instructed him to chisel out. When he descended the second time, he carried the new stone tablets of the Torah in glory. One might say the same of Messiah in His first coming, His ascension and return. ...
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Tabernacle vs. Golden Calf

Tags:  altar, golden calf, idolatry, incense, offerings, patience, tabernacle

We find it all too easy to go from being spiritually high to plummeting into sin and disobedience when the buzz wears off—and it always wears off. Part of the solution is to quit looking for spiritual buzzes. A traveler who is always charging up mountaintops and then sliding down into valleys will not get very far. If he wants to achieve real progress, he needs to stay on the level ridge routes, avoiding the peaks and the dips. We need to work on the simple, day-to-day disciplines of faith....
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A Sign Between Us

The Tabernacle was to be a holy place, a sanctuary in space where Israel could meet God. In the same way the Sabbath is a sanctuary in time in which we can meet with God....
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