Tag: perfect

Gospel for the Sheep and Goats

Posted on by jovial_cynic

אֶֽעֱבֹ֨ר בְּכׇל־צֹֽאנְךָ֜ הַיּ֗וֹם הָסֵ֨ר מִשָּׁ֜ם כׇּל־שֶׂ֣ה ׀ נָקֹ֣ד וְטָל֗וּא וְכׇל־שֶׂה־חוּם֙ בַּכְּשָׂבִ֔ים וְטָל֥וּא וְנָקֹ֖ד בָּעִזִּ֑ים וְהָיָ֖ה שְׂכָרִֽי׃

let me pass through your whole flock today, removing from there every speckled and spotted animal—every dark-colored sheep and every spotted and speckled goat. Such shall be my wages.
Genesis 30:32 (The Contemporary Torah, JPS 2006)

I cannot read the story of Jacob choosing the speckled, spotted, and dark-colored animals (both sheep… AND goats!) and not see a Gospel with an ever-widening circle of grace.

With your Whole Heart

Posted on by jovial_cynic

When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him and said, “I am God Almighty; walk before me faithfully and be blameless.
Genesis 17:1 (NIV)

The phrase “and be blameless” fails to capture the weight of this phrase in Hebrew. Some render it “and be perfect,” which is closer, but it can drift towards an incorrect meaning of “without sin.”

That is not the meaning at all. It means “be whole-hearted.”

It is connected to “Love the LORD your God with all your heart.

The rabbis point out that it’s even more than that. It’s tied to living out being the image-bearers of God, not as a passive state of existance, but as an intentional act of divine movement into the world.

Being an image-bearer doesn’t merely mean looking like God in appearance, but in action. God is Light, and we are the little lights. We’re told to shine in this dark world.

But this can only be done with our whole hearts devoted to God, cut separately for His purpose.