Your Daily Slice

Iyar 3

Following

“But Kĕpha followed Him at a distance …” (Mat 26:58 ISR)

For those of us who are part of the FaceBook “family”, there is an option available to “friends”: we can choose to “follow” (or not) everything that is posted by one another.  Everything that our “friends” (that we follow) write and post – good and bad – will show up on our timeline.  And we can also choose whether we want to recognize these posts, and if we even want to respond to them in some way.  Truly, this is a good example of “following at a distance”, for we have the ability to choose how involved we want to be with each person we “follow”.

How many of us, do you suppose, treat our Messiah King the same way?

We know that Yeshua is Messiah, that only He has the words of life (John 6:68).  We understand that Yeshua is the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6).  We have been taught that none of us will be able to come to the Father except through Yeshua (John 14:6), and we comprehend that Yeshua is the Word (Torah) made flesh (John 1:14).  We know that if we truly love Him, we will not only watch over His mitzvot, His commands, but will keep them to the best of our ability (John 14:15).  And yet, knowing all of these things, we still choose to “follow at a distance”, never allowing ourselves to get close enough to actually reach out and touch Him.

By choosing to keep his distance, Kĕpha (Peter) denied Yeshua three times (see Mat 26:75), being more concerned about the judgement of man, than the honor and esteem of our Messiah.

When we choose to “do our own pleasure” on the Saturday Sabbath (see Isa 58:13-14), are we “following at a distance”, and denying our Messiah?  When we gorge ourselves on BLT’s and shrimp dinners, instead of following the dietary laws as laid out for us in Lev 11, are we “following at a distance”, and denying the One who delivered us out of Egypt?  What of the feast days of our Elohim, days – called “holy and set-apart” - that we are commanded to observe (see Lev 23)?  Are we “following at a distance” and denying our Elohim when we choose to not honor and obey the mitzvah concerning these feast days?  And finally, what about something as simple as the wearing of tzitzit – does this fall under the category of being more afraid of what others would think (following at a distance), as opposed to being obedient to the command (Num 15:38)?

There are many – yes, many – who call themselves “Torah Observant”, yet follow our King at a distance, not wanting to take the stand that is required of those who profess to belong to Him.  Being set-apart means just that:  we are to be set apart from the rest of the world, and we are to be noticeably different in our living, our life style.  The way in which we live our lives is to be the light that shines brightly in this dark and troubled world.  We cannot do this if we are “following at a distance”, too concerned about what the world around us may say or do in critique and judgement of us.

For every cause, there is an effect; for every action, there is a reaction.  This is a known Biblical principal:  “Do not be led astray: Elohim is not mocked, for whatever a man sows, that he shall also reap.” (see also Gen 1:12; Job 4:8)  When we make the conscious decision to “follow at a distance”, ignoring the commandments of our Elohim, and justifying ourselves that they are “not for today”, there will be repercussions of this choice.  We can take that certainty to the bank …

“And it shall be, if you DO NOT OBEY the voice of יהוה your Elohim, to guard to do all His commands and His laws which I command you today, that all these curses shall come upon you and overtake you …” (Deu 28:15 ISR, emphasis mine)

“For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn from the set-apart command delivered unto them.” (2Pet 2:21)

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