Tag: dailyprompt

Podcast Episode: Understanding the Moral Debate: Abortion and its Implications

Podcast Episode: Understanding the Moral Debate: Abortion and its Implications

Pip: There’s a streaming service out there that markets itself on wholesome family content — and somehow that’s where this episode begins, with a hymn, a British abolitionist, and a question that has no comfortable answer.

Mara: cj’s writing takes us into the moral and philosophical territory of abortion, tracing a line from William Wilberforce’s biography through scripture, law, and the question of what we lose when we define life by its quality. Let’s start with that argument.

Understanding the Moral Debate: Abortion and its Implications

Pip: The post opens not with a policy brief but with a biography — specifically, a detail about William Wilberforce that stops the reader cold. The question underneath it is ancient: who decides which lives are worth sustaining?

Mara: The setup is a passage from Stephen Tomkins’s biography of Wilberforce. Here it is: “In later life he often reflected with gratitude that if he had been born in what he was pleased to call ‘less civilized times’, his parents would not have taken the trouble to keep him alive.”

Pip: So the man who dismantled the British slave trade — one of the most consequential moral reformers in history — was himself a weak, sickly child who, by a different calculus, might never have been kept alive. That’s the stakes the post is building toward.

Mara: And the post connects that directly to current law. Massachusetts recently eliminated gestational limits on abortion, joining Alaska, Colorado, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington D.C. The post pulls from Britannica to name the reasons often cited as justification — quality of life, physical or mental well-being, rape, incest, fetal abnormality.

Pip: The post pushes back on the word “serious” in that last category — arguing it’s undefined, that what counts as serious shifts person to person, and that the word functions more to soften opposition than to set a real boundary.

Mara: Right. And the post returns that back to Wilberforce: poor eyesight, small, sickly — none of it disqualifying by the standards of his time and place, but potentially disqualifying by ours. The post asks, plainly, how many breakthroughs, leaders, and lives were foreclosed by that same reasoning.

Pip: It’s a question the post acknowledges no one can answer — and says no one dares try.

Mara: The post closes with scripture from James, First Peter, and Ecclesiastes, grounding the argument in the idea that life is knit together by the Creator — and that choosing otherwise is, in the post’s own image, ripping the needles from His hands.

Pip: The metaphor lands harder than most policy arguments do.

Mara: The thread running through all of this is the question of what we lose when quality of life becomes the measure of a life worth living.

Pip: Wilberforce wouldn’t have passed that test. Worth sitting with before the next episode.

Read the post in its entirety here: Understanding the Moral Debate: Abortion and its Implications

Understanding the Moral Debate: Abortion and its Implications

Understanding the Moral Debate: Abortion and its Implications

“What is the meaning of life?” “To be or not to be? That is the question.” “There is a time for every purpose under heaven.” “Live in the moment, walk humbly, work hard.” “Vanity, all is vanity.”

I subscribed to a streaming service the other day. It prides itself on wholesome, family entertainment. I caved, after seeing a particular trailer for a film that I could only find on their streaming platform. The film was called, Amazing Grace. From Google, “The film tells the true story of British politician William Wilberforce. He led a long fight to end the slave trade in the 18th century. It also features the hymn’s writer, former slave trader John Newton.”

After watching the movie, Amazing Grace, I was moved to learn more about William Wilberforce. I found a Biography on William Wilberforce, written by Stephen Tomkins. I am only a few pages in and I read this paragraph.

“Robert and his wife Elizabeth had three children besides William – all daughters – but only one of the girls, Sarah, survived infancy, and William himself was a weak, sickly child, small and with poor eyesight. In later life he often reflected with gratitude that if he had been born in what he was pleased to call ‘less civilized times’, his parents would not have taken the trouble to keep him alive.”

I was struck by the last line, “his parents would not have taken the trouble to keep him alive.” My mind immediately went to Massachusetts new abortion law eliminating any gestational limits. Not to single out a single state as it isn’t limited to just Massachusetts. In fact, they simply joined a growing list of states to take this step securing the right to abortion up to birth. The states Massachusetts joins, Alaska, Colorado, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Vermont, and the District of Columbia (Washington D.C.).

What are the reasons for abortion that some find being a “good argument”? In my readings on it, it appears to be mainly, quality of life. Here is an exert from U.S. Abortions Rights by State, at Britannica.com. “Induced abortions can be performed for various reasons, including to preserve the mother’s physical or mental well-being, in cases of rape or incest, to prevent the birth of a child with serious abnormalities, or for social or economic reasons. When abortions are performed to preserve the mother’s well-being or in cases of rape or incest, they are often considered therapeutic.”

Some will call me deceptive for not highlighting the word serious when talking about abnormalities. Well, my reasoning is quite simple, serious is undefined, what constitutes serious for one individual may not for another. Therefore, serious is added to quiet dissension, and for no other reason.

Imagine if William Wilberforce’s parents lived in a society such as ours, in such moral decay. What would have been his outcome? I find it striking that Stephen Tomkins points out that William thought it a good thing that he wasn’t born in ‘less civilized times’, or his parents might have chosen not to keep him alive. It sounds barbaric and yet here we are in 2026, modern medical advancements beyond imagination when William Wilberforce was born, August 24, 1759.

How many William’s never saw the light of day because of convenience, or quality of life? How many medical breakthroughs lost, cultural revolutionary leaders missing, quality of life enhancements never realized, because of ‘therapeutic’ reasons? No one can answer those questions. No one dares try.

“What is the meaning of life?” “To be or not to be? That is the question.” “There is a time for every purpose under heaven.” “Live in the moment, walk humbly, work hard.” “Vanity, all is vanity.”

Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world. James 1:27

If you address as Father the One who impartially judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves in fear during the time of your stay on earth; knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Messiah. 1 Peter 1:17-19

Therefore, putting aside all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander, like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the Word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation, if you have tasted the kindness of Adonai. 1 Peter 2:1-3

The word says, metaphorically, that we are knit together by God in our mother’s womb. Using this metaphor, when we as a society choose abortion, are we not also ripping the knitting needles out of the hand of the Creator?

The conclusion, when all has been heard, is: fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person. For God will bring every act to judgment, everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil. Ecclesiastes 12:13-14

You are loved,
cj

Podcast Episode: Understanding God’s Covenant: Written on Our Hearts

Podcast Episode: Understanding God’s Covenant: Written on Our Hearts

Pip: There is a corner of the internet telling you not to be afraid — 365 times a year, apparently — and then there is cj, writing for The Way of the Rabbi, who would like a word about what the fear of God actually means.

Mara: This episode goes deep into Hebrews 10 — covenant, Torah, sacrifice, and what it means to have God’s instruction written on your heart rather than carved in stone.

Pip: Let’s start with the covenant itself.

Understanding God’s Covenant: Written on Our Hearts

Mara: The post opens with a tension the internet tends to flatten: the difference between “fear not” as comfort and the fear of God as the beginning of wisdom. Both live in Hebrews 10, and the post argues the church has traded one for the other at its own cost.

Pip: The anchor quote comes early, and it does not ease you in. “It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” That is Hebrews 10:31, and it is not a metaphor being softened anywhere in this piece.

Mara: What that verse is doing is framing the whole chapter. Hebrews 10 opens as a commentary on Psalm 40, arguing that the Torah’s yearly sacrifices were a shadow — not the substance. The substance is Messiah’s offering, which accomplished what the shadow could only gesture toward: the exchange of sin for righteousness.

Pip: So the yearly sacrifice covered. The one offering exchanged. That is a meaningful distinction — covering versus exchange is not just a theological nicety, it is the hinge the rest of the argument swings on.

Mara: And the post brings that home through Jeremiah 31, quoted in Hebrews 10. “This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says YHWH: I will put My Torah upon their heart, and on their mind I will write them.”

Pip: Which raises the honest question the post actually asks out loud: if Torah is abolished, why write it on anyone’s heart?

Mara: The answer the post gives is precise. What Messiah’s blood removes is the law of sin and its consequence — death. Not the call to walk in obedience. The covenant written on the heart beckons toward the throne of grace, not away from instruction.

Pip: Holiness as destination, not as the price of entry. That reframe is doing a lot of work quietly.

Mara: It lands in Hebrews 10:19-25 — the “let us” passage. Draw near, hold fast, spur one another on. And then the warning: willful sin after receiving the truth leaves no remaining sacrifice. The post closes on Revelation 14:12 — “the perseverance of the saints who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Yahoshua.”

Pip: Fear and confidence, written on the same heart.

Mara: The thread running through all of this is covenant as living obligation — not abolished, not optional, written inward.

Pip: Next time, we will see where that obligation leads when it walks out the door and into the world.

Read the full post: Understanding God’s Covenant: Written on our Hearts

Understanding God’s Covenant: Written on Our Hearts

Understanding God’s Covenant: Written on Our Hearts

“It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” Hebrews 10:31

There are many meme’s and TicToc posts that will tell you to “fear not”. They will claim that “fear not”, is quoted 365 times in Scripture. And although this is a great comfort to many and there is some truth behind its sentiment, the reality remains, “The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom.” As found in Proverbs 1:7 and 9:10.

Now before you jump on me saying that these are not the same thing, I know, but I want to draw a line of comparison. The Church has gone from reverent fear of God, to a flippant cursory reading and understanding of His Word. Which has lead to misunderstandings and false teachings of what God calls His followers to.

Let’s dive into Hebrews 10 where we will discover both, security–fear not, and fear– the beginning of wisdom. Hebrews 10 opens up as a commentary on Psalm 40:6-8. There is a lot that is being said here. It begins talking about the Law, ‘Torah’, being only a shadow of things to come and not the very form of things. The writer says, this “can never, by the same sacrifices which they offer continually year by year, make perfect those who draw near.” The shadow is not the fullness. Where the yearly sacrifice stated in the Law brought a covering for sin. The fullness of what was to come in Messiah, was the exchange our sin for His righteousness.

Which brings to light the importance of Passover and why holding to all of the Feasts, as memorial stones, is so important. We see the permanence of Messiahs offering and the victory won for those who are found in Him.

Now continuing in Hebrews 10 what is the conclusion drawn by the author on the significance of Messiah’s offering over the yearly sacrifice? “Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, because the worshippers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have had consciousness of sins?” The writer now draws directly on Psalm 40; “Sacrifice and offering you have not desired, but a body you have prepared for Me; In whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin You have taken no pleasure. Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come (In the scroll of the Book it is written of Me) To do Your will, O God.'” Interestingly the author leaves off the last line of verse eight, “Your Law is within My heart.” Which is done on purpose as the author will shortly bring this idea home.

We who are in Messiah Yahoshua (Jesus), can rest in knowing that our sins have been exchanged for the righteousness of the Son of God, once and for all. “But He, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time onward until his enemies be made a footstool for His feet. For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified.” No longer are we bound by the early restrictions of a brick and mortar temple and beholden to priests to offer sacrifice. We now can come boldly to the throne of grace having written on our hearts the Law of God. His Holy Instruction, the Torah.

“And the Holy Spirit also testifies to us; for after saying, ‘This is the covenant that I will amen with them after those days, says YHWH: I will put My Torah upon their heart, and on their mind I will write them,’ He then says, ‘And their sins and their lawless (Torahless) deeds I will remember no more.‘” Here the author of Hebrews quotes Jeremiah 31.

Honest question if the Torah is done away with, why then would He write it on our hearts? When in true understanding we see that what is done away with by the blood of Messiah is the law of sin and its conclusion, death. Not the need to walk in obedience of the Fathers instruction. In Messiah, we are not free to sin or to walk according to our own desires, but to walk according to what has been written on our hearts.

We have a new boldness in Messiah on how we ought to walk and conduct ourselves, in love and kindness, and in obedience to the Fathers instruction found in the very scrolls, that the author of Hebrews is quoting.

“Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Yahoshua, by the new and living way opened for us through the curtain of His body, and since we have a Great Priest (Yahoshua) over the house of God, let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold resolutely to the hope we profess, for He who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to spur one another on to love and good works. Let us not neglect meeting together, as some have made a habit, but let us encourage one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” Hebrews 10:19-25

To what are we encouraging one another on to? It is in the conduct of those set apart for good works. Are we to make the sacrifice of Messiah to no effect by living as the world? The author of Hebrews says NO! “For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a terrifying expectation of judgment and the fury of a fire which will consume the adversaries.”

You have been called to holiness, you have been called to return to Gods instruction. We are no longer bound by sin unto death by the blood of Messiah but we are still bound by a covenant that is written on our hearts and on our minds. It beckons us onward towards the throne of grace. In the presence of the saints who encourage us to keep the faith, to keep the promises, to keep the instruction. “Here is the perseverance of the saints who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Yahoshua.” Revelation 14:12.

“Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much more severely do you think one deserves to be punished who has trampled on the Son of God, profaned the blood of the covenant that sanctified him, and insulted the Spirit of grace?” Do you honestly believe that we insult the Spirit of Grace by seeking to honor the covenant written on our hearts? The very covenant God said, “I WILL put MY TORAH upon their HEARTS, and on their MIND I WILL write them.”

“For we know Him who said, ‘Vengeance is Mine, I will repay.’ And again, ‘YHWH will judge His people.’ It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” Hebrews 10:30-31

I encourage you to read God’s Word daily, make it a practice to know Him and His instruction. Desire to know that covenant has He or wants to write on your heart and on your mind. Seek Him, seek truth.

You are loved,
cj

Podcast Episode: Gluttons of Grace: The Spiritual Dangers of Gluttony

Podcast Episode: Gluttons of Grace: The Spiritual Dangers of Gluttony

Pip: There’s a spiritual danger hiding in plain sight — and it’s not the one the church usually wants to talk about at the potluck.

Mara: cj’s latest post on The Way of the Rabbi takes on gluttony — not just the physical kind, but what the piece calls “gluttony of grace,” the habit of treating God’s patience as a license to keep sinning. Let’s start with what that actually means and why it matters.

Gluttons of Grace: The Spiritual Dangers of Gluttony

Pip: The post opens with a disarmingly ordinary scene — a fast food order, a one-dollar add-on, and a question: is that gluttony? But that small moment is a doorway into something much larger, the idea that we overindulge spiritually the same way we overindulge at the counter.

Mara: The post grounds the argument in Ephesians 2:10, setting up the kind of life we’re actually called to: “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Messiah Yahoshua to do good works, which God prepared in advance as our way of life.”

Pip: So the stakes here aren’t just dietary. The argument is that grace was never meant to be a standing permission slip — it was meant to launch us into something, a life shaped by the Father’s instruction, the Torah.

Mara: Right, and the post is careful to separate that from works-based salvation. The point isn’t that obedience earns anything. It’s that continuing deliberately in sin while claiming grace is its own kind of excess — the “gluttony of grace” the title names.

Pip: The church’s reluctance to preach on gluttony gets a dry observation here — that it hits too close to home and is harder to hide than most sins. Which is a fair point. Gluttony is the one vice you can’t keep in a private browser tab.

Mara: The post invokes Ezekiel 36:26-27 to answer the objection that Torah-keeping is simply impossible: “I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them.” The Spirit, not willpower, is the mechanism.

Pip: And then Paul — the one, as the post puts it, “in whom so many twist to justify their sinful natures” — gets quoted directly against that very use. Shall we continue in sin so grace may increase? Certainly not.

Mara: The post closes on Matthew 7, the sobering passage where Yahoshua tells those who performed miracles in his name: “I never knew you; depart from Me, you workers of lawlessness.” That’s the endpoint of gluttony of grace taken to its conclusion.

Pip: And the landing is Proverbs 23 — a father’s plea to a son to guide his heart on the right course. The frame shifts from warning to invitation.

Mara: Which is really the post’s whole posture. Not condemnation, but a call to search out truth and walk in it — a heart of flesh instead of stone.

Pip: Grace as a floor rather than a ceiling — that reframe does a lot of quiet work.

Mara: It does. The question underneath all of it is what we’re actually being saved toward, not just saved from. Worth sitting with until next time.

Read the full post: Gluttons of Grace: The Spiritual Dangers of Gluttony

Gluttons of Grace: The Spiritual Dangers of Gluttony

Gluttons of Grace: The Spiritual Dangers of Gluttony

The other night I ate out. It was fast food so nothing fancy and I brought it home so is that actually eating out, technically? The place I chose had a special menu option of a one dollar item. So I added it to my order. However, I didn’t take anything away from what I was already ordering. Therefore, in the end I over ate. Is this the definition of gluttony?

What is the definition of gluttony? The definition is quite simple, gluttony is “excessive eating and drinking.” It is also numbered among the often spoken of, seven deadly sins. Side note here the seven deadly sins although can be found separately within Scripture they do not appear as a list. It is believed that the seven deadly sins was coined by Pope Gregory I. Now gluttony in Hebrew can also be translated as, to be vile, to be worthless, to be insignificant. Based on these definitions, being glutinous, doesn’t sound so appealing.

The church doesn’t like to talk much about gluttony. If you ask me it is because this one hits way too close to home and is far harder to hide. Everyone has their struggles so I am not trying to be insensitive just pointing out an observation. There is plenty that I have had to overcome and others I am still battling, to that I say fight the good fight.

One issue I see abounding in the church today is, gluttony of grace. Taking advantage of Elohim’s patience. Without a doubt I have fallen into this trap as well. However, once one begins to realize that Yahoshua (Jesus) kept and taught the Torah and that He used it to teach, it cannot be denied or swept away.

In John eight Yahoshua makes a statement that many ignore or give it a cursory glance. In being brought the woman caught in adultery at the end of the encounter He says to the woman; “Neither do I condemn you: go, and sin no more.” Rather than take this verse as a statement of fact, many treat it as an invitation to change. Although they are partly correct they are missing the bigger picture. We are called to abound in good works.

Not a works based salvation but good works because we are saved. Abounding in the good works prepared for us before the foundation of the world. “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Messiah Yahoshua to do good works, which God prepared in advance as our way of life.” (Ephesians 2:10 Berean Study Bible). What are these good works? Some would say they are the fruit of the Spirit found in Galatians five. “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. And those who are in Messiah have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.”

Again this isn’t a wrong belief it is simply incomplete. The good works involve keeping that which the Father established for His people. His instruction, the Torah, as we walk in the light of His Truth. The problem is that we see a list of rules and say it is impossible. Rather than holding to the promise that the Holy Spirit brings in fulfillment of Ezekiels prophecy. Ezekiel 36:26-27 says, “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them.”

Paul himself, the one in whom so many twist to justify their sinful natures, said, “What then shall we say? Shall we continue in sin so that grace may increase? Certainly not! How can we who died to sin live in it any longer? Or aren’t you aware that all of us who were baptized into Messiah Yahoshua were baptized into His death? We were therefore buried with Him through baptism into death, in order that, just as Messiah was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may walk in newness of life.”

Newness of life is not to continue to sin. Essentially becoming gluttons of grace. Then in the end finding out the one we claim to know, never knew us. Yahoshua said, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Adonai, Adonai,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Adonai, Adonai, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you workers of lawlessness!’ Matthew 7:21-23.

Imagine finding out that we are vile, worthless, or insignificant. Because, instead of putting on the newness of life we walked as gluttons. Continuing in the traditions of man rather than searching out truth and living according to the Fathers instruction. Proverbs 23:15-19 is a good place to wrap things up. “My son, if your heart is wise, My own heart will indeed rejoice. My inmost being will rejoice  when your lips speak what is right. Do not let your heart envy sinners, but always continue in the fear of the YHWH. For surely there is a future, and your hope will not be cut off. Listen, my son, and be wise, and guide your heart on the right course.”

May we all seek for a heart of flesh from the Father. This is the Way of the Rabbi.

You are loved,
cj

Podcast Episode: Transforming Lives: Conforming vs. Standing Out

Podcast Episode: Transforming Lives: Conforming vs. Standing Out

Pip: There is a children’s Christmas program somewhere in the annals of history where one kid showed up in a three-piece brown suit, and it turns out that is the whole sermon.

Mara: That story comes from cj, writing at The Way of the Rabbi — and today we are sitting with what it actually means to live as someone set apart, from conformity and identity to the call to stand out in a world pulling hard the other direction.

Pip: Let’s start with the brown suit and what Romans has to say about it.

—

Conforming vs. Standing Out

Mara: The central tension here is one believers navigate constantly — the pull to blend in versus the call to be genuinely different, not as a performance but as a lived reality. The question is what that actually looks like when no one is watching.

Pip: The setup is a second-grade Christmas program, one kid in a chocolate brown three-piece suit in a sea of green, and a teacher who thought putting him front and center as the trunk of the tree would help. It did not help. But the pivot to Romans 12 is where the real argument lands, and the text is direct: “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.”

Mara: So the upshot is that transformation is inward first — the visible difference in how someone lives is the outward sign of something already changed at the level of mind and orientation, not a set of external markers bolted on afterward.

Pip: And the post is careful to name what standing out is not. It is not a bumper sticker. It is not a Bible verse posted to social media. The question asked is sharper than that.

Mara: Right — “When you say no words what do your actions say? When you are at work, what does your production say? When you are out with friends, what do your habits say?” The measure is lifestyle, not signal.

Pip: There is also a warning woven in about comfort. The image used is a pot beginning to boil — too many people are so settled into the surrounding culture that they do not notice the temperature rising.

Mara: The passage from Micah gets pulled in here as well: “to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your Elohim.” That requirement, the post argues, is consistent across Moses, the prophets, and Paul — the Father’s standard does not shift.

Pip: The call at the end is to learn the way of the Rabbi, Yahoshua, and to study rather than inherit someone else’s tradition wholesale.

Mara: Standing out, it turns out, is less about being conspicuous and more about being rooted — which is a different kind of visible entirely.

—

Pip: A brown suit in a sea of green. It is a small image for a large idea — that what you are wearing, spiritually speaking, should be unmistakable.

Mara: More from The Way of the Rabbi next time.

Read the post here: Transforming Lives: Conforming vs. Standing Out

Podcast Episode: Reflecting on the Past: The Journey of Growth in Truth

Podcast Episode: Reflecting on the Past: The Journey of Growth in Truth

Pip: There’s a certain genre of birthday reflection that goes: “I’m older, possibly wiser, and here’s what Scripture says about it.” cj has written one, and it’s more rigorous than that description suggests.

Mara: This episode covers one extended meditation on memory, growth, and what the New Covenant actually asks of us — looking back at the past without being chained to it.

Pip: Let’s start with what it means to sit with your shoulda-coulda-wouldas and actually do something useful with them.

Reflecting on the Past: Learning Without Being Chained

Mara: The post opens on familiar ground — the mental loop of regret, the “shoulda, coulda, woulda’s of life” — but the argument is that those thoughts aren’t worthless. The question is whether they become a foundation or a trap.

Pip: The anchor here is a quote from Yahoshua, set up as a warning about nostalgia: “No one who puts his hand to the plow and then looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”

Mara: And the post immediately asks whether that means never look back — then answers its own question. Obviously not, or Hebrews 11, the whole hall of faith, would be unreadable. Looking back has a purpose; it’s the posture that determines whether it helps or harms.

Pip: So the post draws a practical distinction — learning from past mistakes, using moments of forgiveness received as motivation to forgive others, pondering what you’ve learned to better understand truth. That’s looking back with healthy perspective.

Mara: The accountability piece lands hard. The post names pride as the specific obstacle: “The problem many run into is that they don’t like to admit to their mistakes. Instead they blame others for their misfortunes.” Owning your choices, not just the bad luck, is where truth gets discovered.

Pip: And then it reframes the whole idea of being shaped by your past. Not “we are the sum of our mistakes” — that’s called only half truth — but “we are the sum of our choices, good, bad, indifferent.”

Mara: The resolution is grounded in the New Covenant. Paul writes to Timothy: “Study to show yourself approved, a workman, who rightly handles the word of truth.” The past informs the student; the word directs what the student does next.

Pip: So the shoulda-coulda-wouldas aren’t the enemy. Staying in them is.

Mara: The core argument holds: the past is material for growth, not a verdict.

Pip: Learn from it, grow from it — just don’t set up a residence there. More from The Way of the Rabbi next time.

Reflecting on the Past: The Journey of Growth in Truth

Reflecting on the Past: The Journey of Growth in Truth

Another year older and i would like to think that i am at least a bit wiser. Although, every year at this time i can’t help but think what my life would be like if certain things could be undone. Statements like, “i should have done this . . .”, “i could have done this . . .”, and “i would have done this . . .”, circle my mind. The shoulda, coulda, woulda’s of life. In my opinion they aren’t completely without merit, although they can become problematic.

Yahoshua said, “And no one after drinking old wine wants new, for he says, ‘The old is better.’” He was making a specific point about instructing His disciples but the idea is transferable. You have probably thought it yourself at some point, “It was better when I was a kid.” Wishing for another time in the past, hoping things will return. I hate to be the bearer of bad news but they won’t. In fact things are only going to get increasingly worse overall. At least until Yahoshua returns.

When He does return He will restore things, but to what? We have only the word but no experience in what is to come. This is why there are so many opinions. Everyone who reads it has a slightly different idea and all of them will say, “God, revealed to me in a dream . . .” Who do you trust, who do you listen to? You probably have your teacher favorites based on your doctrinal upbringing. And through that lens you will fit your understanding of Scripture. Regardless if it makes any sense or not because one simply says, “For now we know in part, seeing things through a mirror dimly.” “There are many mysteries that will be revealed in the end.” Etc.

Although, this is true it does not justify ignorance on the matters of truth. What is TRUTH? His, God’s Word, is Truth. Yahoshua said, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and then looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.” Did He mean never look back? Obviously not, or Hebrews 11 would be unreadable. So what can one gain from looking back at one’s life and reflecting?

Learning from past mistakes, is clearly a good idea. Looking at times you were forgiven, in order to forgive others, is a worthy endeavor. Pondering what you have learned in order to understand truth, without a doubt, is a good idea. After all, Paul tells Timothy, “Study to show yourself approved, a workman, who rightly handles the word of truth.”

Be a student of life. Be willing to learn from your mistakes and the mistakes of others. Learning what not to do is as important as learning what to do. Both are equally beneficial if treated correctly. Those previous experiences can be motivation for future decisions, and they should be, with healthy perspective.

God has spoken to us through His word. There is no guessing if you read it for yourself. Part of the ‘New Covenant’ is that His Spirit will guide us. John says, “And as for you, the anointing you received from Him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But just as His true and genuine anointing teaches you about all things, so remain in Him as you have been taught.”

The New Covenant is written on our hearts. It is the Instruction of God and it includes the history of His people. All of it. The good, the bad, the indifferent. All of the shoulda, coulda, woulda’s. The writer of Hebrews quotes Jeremiah when he writes, “For this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares Adonai. I will put My Torah in their minds and inscribe them on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they will be My people.”

Paul writes to the Romans, “Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the Torah, do by nature what the Torah requires, they are a Torah to themselves, even though they do not have the Torah. So they show that the work of the Torah is written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts either accusing or defending them on the day when God will judge men’s secrets through Messiah Yahoshua, as proclaimed by my gospel.”

The problem many run into is that they don’t like to admit to their mistakes. Instead they blame others for their misfortunes. Pride becomes an issue. Even if it is equal parts their own doing and that of someone else, it is a default to blame the other entirely. We need to own our own. In that we discover truth. It is said that we are the sum of our mistakes. That is half true. We are the sum of our choices, good, bad, indifferent. Therefore it should stand to reason that we should desire to make choices, from this moment forward, that reflect faith, hope, and love. Right?

Yahoshua said, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it.” Let us be willing to learn from our past mistakes. Study the word with a desire to be changed by the word. In order that we might walk in newness of life, within the ‘New Covenant’, given to those who put their faith in Messiah. The past is the past. Learn from it. Grow from it. But do not be chained by it.

You are loved,
cj

Podcast Episode: The One Story: God’s Covenant and Instructions

Podcast Episode: The One Story: God’s Covenant and Instructions

Pip: One book, not two — and apparently that page between Malachi and Matthew has a lot to answer for.

Mara: cj’s recent writing on The Way of the Rabbi goes deep into what holds scripture together as a single story, and what that means for how we live inside it. Let’s start with the covenant itself — and what the text actually says about sin, Torah, and obedience.

The One Story: God’s Covenant and Instructions

Pip: The central claim here is that the Bible was never meant to be read in two halves — and that the dividing line most readers take for granted has quietly done real damage to how people understand who they are and what they’re called to do.

Mara: The post frames the whole of scripture this way: “It should be read as if it was written to you and your family from your dad. Because, every word of it, was inspired by your Heavenly Father.”

Pip: That reframe matters practically. If it’s a letter from a father, you don’t skip chapters or treat half of it as superseded fine print. The whole thing carries weight, and you read it looking for coherence, not contradiction.

Mara: And the coherence the post argues for runs straight through the question of sin. John’s definition from 1 John 3:4 is quoted directly: “Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness.” The post is careful to note that the word translated as law is better rendered Torah — instruction.

Pip: So lawlessness isn’t just moral chaos in the abstract. It’s specifically being without God’s instruction — which reframes repentance too.

Mara: Exactly. Repentance, the post argues, has always meant returning to the Father’s ways. Not a one-time transaction, but an ongoing orientation. Romans 6 gets quoted at length on this point — the logic that dying to sin means you can no longer live in it.

Pip: There’s a pointed moment where the Pharisees come up — not as rule-obsessives, but as people who added to and subtracted from Torah while performing compliance. That’s the irony the post lands on: the accusation of legalism often comes from people who also claim you should obey God.

Mara: The post closes with a direct question to the reader — what exactly are you practicing? It’s less a rhetorical flourish and more a genuine diagnostic. The instruction, the covenant, the door — all one continuous thing.

Pip: One story, one covenant, one set of questions you actually have to answer for yourself.

Mara: The kind of reading that doesn’t let you stay comfortable at the page break. More of that territory next time.

Read the whole post here: The One Story: God’s Covenant and Instructions