Hello there!
I was just reminiscing on the cross and how to interpret it - is it one cross, or three? - and I was reminded that everyone sees the cross differently, some that it is a laugh, others that it is a painful thing. What struck me is that Jews think the Cross is Jewish, but not only that, but that it is better that God be there, than that it be felt more painfully. God is something that Jews use to provoke faith. This is exactly how Paul (previously "Saul") thought.
Paul thought dissension was something to be persecuted, that the utility of God must be preserved (at all costs), that those who believed in Jesus were no longer preserving God as they should - it was all a means test, for who deserved the respite in God the most. When he, Paul, saw what it was he was preserving people in, he went blind. Now the blindness was already there, but in faith in the Lord it had to be purged. Where we are now, is between the purging of the utility of God, with the calling to a life that is pure in spirit and truth. Jews are communicating blindness, but they are doing it in ignorance.
The lesson in this, then, is that you may not be able to reach a Jew, whose defence is that first, the cross is hard but second that approaching their blindness is provokation, as Paul (earlier "Saul") saw the spread of Christianity above and beyond the provokation that it should have been. It was very futile (for Paul). Can we expect anything but blindness, then? Certainly nothing I can say - in this lifetime - will persuade every Jew, but I can walk in purity of spirit and truth, that the provokation be refused and sent back to the Devil (my only option, if the Jews will not believe the utility of my God to save the nations). It is this clarity that the Lord's utility is distinct from the Devil that ensures that I will endure to the end (in principle). Even so, I must struggle if nothing else but to distinguish myself from the Devil, as varies from nation to nation.
I guess what I am saying is that it is interesting that Jews continue to be mindful, of who is provoking what and why - the way we can assume Paul did, before his blindness was inescapable. For if he persecuted the meagre faith of the early Christians, how much greater must his blindness have been becoming. I don't know though, am I becoming numb to the idea that faith in Jesus can be punished? I am not trying to lay crime on Jews, or change what it is that provokes them, it just seems like it should not be strange. As Jesus said "If they keep my Word, they will keep yours" - maybe if they keep Paul's blindness, the Cross will become to them, a thing of light? I can lay down my life for that, why not?!
The problem is that as Jews we all want to be esteemed, that I am afraid, can only come from the Lord!
I was just reminiscing on the cross and how to interpret it - is it one cross, or three? - and I was reminded that everyone sees the cross differently, some that it is a laugh, others that it is a painful thing. What struck me is that Jews think the Cross is Jewish, but not only that, but that it is better that God be there, than that it be felt more painfully. God is something that Jews use to provoke faith. This is exactly how Paul (previously "Saul") thought.
Paul thought dissension was something to be persecuted, that the utility of God must be preserved (at all costs), that those who believed in Jesus were no longer preserving God as they should - it was all a means test, for who deserved the respite in God the most. When he, Paul, saw what it was he was preserving people in, he went blind. Now the blindness was already there, but in faith in the Lord it had to be purged. Where we are now, is between the purging of the utility of God, with the calling to a life that is pure in spirit and truth. Jews are communicating blindness, but they are doing it in ignorance.
The lesson in this, then, is that you may not be able to reach a Jew, whose defence is that first, the cross is hard but second that approaching their blindness is provokation, as Paul (earlier "Saul") saw the spread of Christianity above and beyond the provokation that it should have been. It was very futile (for Paul). Can we expect anything but blindness, then? Certainly nothing I can say - in this lifetime - will persuade every Jew, but I can walk in purity of spirit and truth, that the provokation be refused and sent back to the Devil (my only option, if the Jews will not believe the utility of my God to save the nations). It is this clarity that the Lord's utility is distinct from the Devil that ensures that I will endure to the end (in principle). Even so, I must struggle if nothing else but to distinguish myself from the Devil, as varies from nation to nation.
I guess what I am saying is that it is interesting that Jews continue to be mindful, of who is provoking what and why - the way we can assume Paul did, before his blindness was inescapable. For if he persecuted the meagre faith of the early Christians, how much greater must his blindness have been becoming. I don't know though, am I becoming numb to the idea that faith in Jesus can be punished? I am not trying to lay crime on Jews, or change what it is that provokes them, it just seems like it should not be strange. As Jesus said "If they keep my Word, they will keep yours" - maybe if they keep Paul's blindness, the Cross will become to them, a thing of light? I can lay down my life for that, why not?!
The problem is that as Jews we all want to be esteemed, that I am afraid, can only come from the Lord!