Do you ever feel like you’re behind before you ever get started? Yeah, me too, sometimes. I certainly felt it when I started this Torah walk. Not having been raised this way, I always played catch up.

But, really, was I behind? Or was I right where God wanted me to be? Afterall, it’s He who opens the eyes of understanding, right? Actually, part of walking with God means to go at the pace He sets, incremental steps. (Not the pace of anyone you or I might try to keep up with.)

Want to see this in action? Check out Acts 15.  The people just coming to the messianic faith of Yeshua had much to un-learn from the nations, steeped in the ways of the gods - gods that were demanding and exacting and offered them no peace in return for service. These people had been living a life so different from God's way, that they were honestly hard to be around, according to those who had been on God’s Torah path all their lives. Why?

For one, they ate unclean things, did unclean things, said unclean things. They also believed the lies of the gods. They were not interested in neighborly love, but were of a what’s in it for me mindset. (You become like the ones you worship.)

The longtime faithful of the synagogues had quite a time knowing how to 'deal' with them as they came pouring into their synagogues and communities. Some wanted to see a complete change in them first, adhering to all points of Torah before they were accepted. But this wasn't even the way anyone came to Covenant in the first place, the meaning of Acts 15:10:

"Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of Gentiles a yoke that neither we nor our ancestors have been able to bear? 11 No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are.”

Further in the book of Acts we learn the beautiful simplicity of be patient, let God do His restorative work in baby steps. Give them time. Give them a few things to work on first, that won’t make them so gross to fellowship with (they had some really yucky practices), and let them learn the rest of Torah week by week as they come to the synagogue to hear it being taught every Shabbat.

"We should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God. 20 Instead we should write to them, telling them to abstain from food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals and from blood. 21 For the law of Moses has been preached in every city from the earliest times and is read in the synagogues on every Sabbath.”

If we want to follow in the practice of the disciples and early messianic communities, we would do well to give one another time to un-learn the old destructive ways of the nations, and allow time to learn His ways at a manageable pace. Our task, then, is to come alongside the younger-in-the-faith (and those turning to God for the first time) to encourage them in what they are doing well. In other words, catch them doing the right things.

And please don’t forget to give yourself that same grace, too.

Be blessed!

Gail