Hey there, friends! I run into a lot of misunderstandings about my faith, so I wanted to clear up a few things. For those of you who don't share my faith here's what I would love for you to know.
What I wish my Christian friends knew about my Hebrew faith:
-I believe in the Messiah! Please, please hear this: I haven't walked away from the Savior. I cherish all the stories in the New Testament of the Messiah, same as you. I believe he healed the blind, and walked on water, and threw money changers out from the Temple. I call the Messiah Yahusha because that is a better representation of his name than Jesus. But if you're talking about the Messiah, born of a virgin, died for our sins, rose from the dead, then we are on the same page.
-We have a ton in common. While there are some differences in our faiths there is far more common ground between us. Far more. Like you, I read the Old and New Testaments, and want to live a life that honors the Savior.
-What Hebrew faith means exactly. You can learn more about how I define a Hebrew here, but the gist of it is someone who accepts Yahusha as Messiah, while also being obedient to the commandments given in the Old Testament and throughout Scripture. So that means that I keep the Sabbath on the seventh day of the week, observe the Biblical set apart times instead of cultural holidays, and eat a Biblically clean diet. Those are the basics of a Hebrew lifestyle and I do my best to honor the Creator by living this way.
-I'm not Jewish. If I had a nickel for each time someone assumed I was Jewish I would be one rich lady. But with nothing against Jewish people, I am not pretending or aspiring to be Jewish. While our faiths have a few similarities, no Jewish person would ever consider my faith to be Jewish. And I do not participate in Judaism, a faith that does not accept Yahusha as Messiah. So please don't assume something about Judaism is true of my faith. For example, while I keep Shabbat I do not observe Jewish law that says you have to speak certain blessings, eat challah bread, and light candles in order to do so. The Hebrew faith is much more laid back than orthodox Judaism.
-I'm thrilled with the changes I've made. So often when I share about keeping the Sabbath people feel sorry for me to be "burdened" with it or tell me I am otherwise caught up in legalism, but that's not how I feel at all! I sincerely love the changes I have made and have found tremendous blessing in Sabbath observance, Biblically clean eating, and the Biblical feast days. So when I share with you about that, please know that I am not trying to give you something to do or tell you that your faith is inadequate: it's because I want you to experience the same joy and peace that I've found in these things.
-You are still a cherished friend to me. I am so grateful for you and I don't want our friendship to stop because my lifestyle is a little different than yours. Chances are, your faith is pretty similar to how I used to believe so I get where you're coming from. I want the best for you and I don't look down on you. If you've been hurt or felt slighted because I wouldn't do something on a Saturday or wouldn't try your salad with the bacon dressing, I want you to know that was not my intent. It's not because I don't like you or value you. I'm just trying to live out my convictions, and your support would mean so much!
-You are welcome to ask me questions. Really! If there's something you want to know about my beliefs or what I eat or why I made these changes or whatever else you can feel free to ask. I would love to have a heart-to-heart about faith, and it doesn't scare me if our beliefs don't 100% match.
-I don't have it all figured out. 2 Peter 3:18 tells us to continue to grow in the grace and knowledge of the Messiah, and that's my plan. I don't claim to be fully grown or that I've arrived at some perfect understanding of all things spiritual. I haven't. And that's okay! The Creator does not require us to have every last detail figured out, but he does expect us to grow. Growth means change and I'm willing to make adjustments in to my lifestyle and beliefs as I learn more. I hope you are too.
If you'd like to know more about my faith journey you can read about why I started keeping Shabbat, and why I stopped celebrating Christmas here.
If you have questions feel free to ask!
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Thank you for this post. It describes what I would want my friends to know.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your kind words!
DeleteThank you thank you finally able to explain it
ReplyDeleteYou are very welcome! I hope it helps! :)
DeleteWow, only a few seconds in and had to say, I really appreciate your wording there..."cultural holidays," thank you for this. It tends to come off harsh when I say "worldly" or "pagan holidays," and truthfully I hadn't come up with an alternative that is less of a sting. So, thank you.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much, Lindsey! I agree that we need to be deliberate and prayerful of our wording when we share with others. Using kindness when we share truth has much better results in my experience! I hope that by saying, "cultural" it makes it clear that these holidays are not found in Scripture, and that it inspires others to seek out their origins.
DeleteThank thank thank you!
ReplyDeleteYou're very welcome, Andi! I appreciate your support!
DeleteThanks for sharing Brian. I call myself a believer. I want to worship in spirit n truth. I stopped celebrating Christmas n Easter when I knew the truth. I try to follow Shabbat, working on the clean eating, eliminating processed foods, n sugars. When you are expanded with truth you cannot go back.BE READY !
ReplyDeleteThe steps you are taking are awesome! I agree that once you've had an experience with truth you are a changed person!
Deletei appreciate this post and how it provides a relatively subtle way of explaining my faith
ReplyDeleteThank you so much!
DeleteThank you for this! I have recently become Torah observant and needed a clear way of expressing the changes in my faith, to family and friends. I appreciate your clear and gentle wording.
ReplyDeleteThank you! I hope it is helpful for your family and friends to see where you are coming from.
DeleteThank you so much for this post. Exactly my faith as well and so beautifully explained.
ReplyDeleteThank you! Your words are so kind.
DeleteThis is absolutely wonderful! I’m right there with you!! Thank you!
ReplyDeleteThanks Suzinjean! I appreciate you!
DeleteI am totally blessed by your expression of your faith, though I differ in some things there are more things that are alike then not! I appreciate shalom
ReplyDeleteThank you so much! I so appreciate others recognizing common ground instead of nitpicking over small differences. :)
DeleteI love this post. I feel the same way when I am around other Christians. For I am a Christian who keeps the sabbath on the seventh day of the week, celebrates the Biblical Feast Days, does not do the trinity, accepts Yeshua the Messiah(Jesus)as my savior. And I love Yahweh(God)with all my heart mind and soul. I know I am living according to the Bible, but it can be hard sometimes when you don't know anyone who does the feast days or the sabbath on Saturday so that you can have fellowship with others. I do thank God that we do have the internet so that we can connect with others online. Thank you for your post and I am excited to check out your other content on the blog. :)
ReplyDeleteThank you so much Ariel! How long have you been keeping the Sabbath, etc? I hope you find others to encourage you on this journey!
DeleteHere is a post from a couple of years ago about ways to connect with others of similar faith. Hopefully it helps!
Deletehttps://landofhoneyblog.blogspot.com/2017/01/connecting-with-others-of-hebrew-faith.html
Blessed daughter of YAHUAH, this post has put things in better perspective, for we are the children of the WAY & the Yahushua will never leave us nor forsake us, through Reach'Haqodesh of Truth, we are established in the True foundation of our Faith, Hope & Love.
ReplyDeleteThis is what I have been trying to explain to others about my faith! Thank you for sharing this!
ReplyDeleteIf this isn't me.....you explained so eloquently. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for putting into words what so many of us feel but haven't been able to formulate the rightsequence of words and how exciting and wonderful walking this way is for others to understand without that glazed over stare they give you. Many blessings to you.
ReplyDeleteWe have grown so much since we started observing Sabbath, eating His way, honoring the names Yahusha and Yahuah and celebrating His Feasts and Festivals. Its exciting. Its challenging. Its enlarging our tent posts.
Thank you so much for sharing your beliefs! I feel exactly the same way. I'm starting my journey in the Hebrew Faith too, and is a one ticket way π I've been Christian my whole life and this changes for some people might be very difficult to observe since it changes our mind about so much things we've learnt along the way... still I'm so eager to know and learn more about the Hebrew Faith. After all it is not an "Israeli thing" it's YHWH commands for all his people ππ€
ReplyDeleteShalom!
How did you start, where did you began, with whom? When you started your Hebrew faith journey
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for your post! It answered a lot of questions I had and was very informative. I honor you today, please continue with your post!
ReplyDeleteI understand, I keep Sabbath too. God bless you.
ReplyDeleteThank you for putting into words what I want to tell my friends and family. Blessings.
ReplyDeleteI love this, thank you for sharing!
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