Separate eyes, separate minds
A number of years ago, while living in Georgia, I encountered a young, Amish-looking family in the local library. I had been studying the Amish and read that many of them don’t really dig into a bunch of books so this encounter seemed a bit strange for me. I couldn’t help but ask, “Excuse me, are you Amish?”
“No,” John, the father of the family replied, “we’re more Mennonite than Amish but right now we’re kind of nothing.” Odd. Why would anyone act like an Amish/Mennonite person but not be part of their particular group. Of all the books I looked at in the library, none would answer that question.
Getting to know you
Over the next few months, I got to know John, and his family. I spent time with them talking about their spiritual beliefs and their ideas on raising children and living life in general. I won’t get into all the details of our discussions, but one thing that stuck out was this fact: the Amish and the Mennonite community are different.
I mentioned to John why I singled him out to talk with him. I could have spoke to anyone in that library, why him? He looked different. In this conversation, he mentioned to me that the God’s people are a “peculiar” sort. This is true. But one could argue that, while the Amish/Mennonite folks are peculiar, so are the Jews, not to mention some of the more fringe sects of Christianity and Judaism. So which one is “God’s people”?
A better shell
Obviously, because a person looks a peculiar doesn’t make him automatically part of God’s chosen people. There must be something more to it. But looks do matter. Unfortunately, we, as humans, put too much stock in outside appearance. Is this a fault of believers in the God (Christian, Jewish, or otherwise) to look different in order to feel like a peculiar people set apart? If one felt that changing one’s appearance simply made them part of the kingdom, then yes, it is a fault. However, if one changes inside and that permeates to the surface, in no way is this fault.
I like to say, “Start at the heart.” It’s a simple phrase but it conveys my belief easily. Everything starts at the heart – if something is not in our heart to do, we most likely won’t do it. Even working at our jobs start in the heart – we desire certain things in life and a paycheck may fulfill those wants so we do it. If we, deep in our heart, want to serve our Father, we’ll place his commandments there. Soon, we’ll start doing things that are in line with that love we feel for Him. We’ll change. Eventually, our outer self will be a reflection of the inner self. Going the other way around, trying to look the part to convince others we are living the part in our heart, makes us what Yeshua calls a white-washed tomb – looking good on the outside, dead on the inside.
Inside the Hebraic mind
As we learn more about our Hebrew roots, we begin to understand that we’ve been seeing life with worldly eyes. The Bible would call them “Greek” eyes since the Greeks represented the ways of the world in the time of Yeshua. (Just a note: one could call such eyesight that of “Babylon”, “Egyptitan”, or even a modern denotation of “American/Western”.) The fact is, when we see life through any eyes other than those focused on the Father, we fall short.
By seeing life and the world through God’s eyes (i.e., “Hebrew” eyes), we begin to get that Hebraic mindset. It happens naturally. Then it gets in our heart. Then it comes from our heart back to our brains and, strangely, out our eyes. We see life different. Additionally, we see things we could never see before because we believe. We’re not self-delusional, but we can recognize the Father in more things, places, events, and interactions. Yet it all starts at the heart.
So is John and his family the peculiar people that are God’s people? Sure. Maybe he’s not doing things the “Jewish” way, but he’s doing what he can in his heart with the love of the Father that is in there – arguably, the “Hebraic” way. That love manifests itself in John’s appearance. And whether I believed that his peculiar look made him a man of God or not, I will say this: at the time, I looked a whole lot more “Greek” than “Hebrew”. So I got to give it to John for living out his belief. He was and will always be an inspiration to me to be truly set apart.
