Jewish Roots of Christianity | Reclaiming Our Forgotten Heritage: The Counterfeit Self
Idolatry. It’s a strong word in the spiritual realm. Idolatry means worshiping something that is an “idol.” Often, it’s a man-made object we have committed our affection to. It’s anything in your life that you consider more important, or dare we say as important, as the One True God.
We think of idols as carved wooden statues or even naturally occurring objects such as rocks, fire, and water.
The truth is… idolatry is spiritual adultery.
Through the covenant, you are married, promised, and betrothed to the Ancient of Days for all of your life. When the Lord starts peeling back the layers of idols in your life, He reveals 2 things…
- Your counterfeit self
And then He replaces it with…
- Your true identity
Being on opposite ends of the spectrum, these attributes would seem obvious and easy to identify. However, if we aren’t grounded in who we truly are at the root—our true identity in Yeshua—we slide back and forth on that spectrum like a roller coaster plummeting to earth after a major high point on the ride of life. If we aren’t grounded, we base who we are on our circumstances and emotions.
The Counterfeit Self
“But you have not learned Christ, if indeed you have heard him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus: that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be reviewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.”—Ephesians 4:20-24 (emphasis added)
In Curt Landry’s book Reclaiming Our Forgotten Heritage | How Understanding the Jewish Roots of Christianity Can Transform Your Faith, he notes that the journey of chasing a counterfeit identity can be painful and expensive—not only financially, but also especially in regard to relationships and destiny.
How do we connect with others if we don’t really know who we are? We end up comparing ourselves to and conflicting with those placed in our path. Or we gravitate toward those who are as lost as we are, and we play it safe, trying to protect ourselves from any risk of hurt or rejection.
This way of functioning becomes so natural and normal to us that no real connections are made. But we think we “have it made” because we are building ourselves up with stuff, success, and temporary satisfaction.
We sense something is missing but can’t quite figure it out, or maybe we don’t want to. As a result, we trust no one, which only leads to more brokenness.
Read this excerpt written by Curt Landry from the book Reclaiming Our Forgotten Heritage…
“I was living in the fast lane and running with a fast company. But I still really had no idea who I was. Like many people in the first half of their lives, I was running hard to define who I was and to make my mark on the world.
“I was luckier than most because I had a good upbringing and a loving family at home, but I really didn’t have anything to live for bigger than myself and my family. From a material success standpoint, I was doing well, but my soul was languishing. I was receiving accolades from those around me but had yet to connect with my true purpose, discover my spiritual identity, or plug into my God-given calling.
“In fact, rather than doing the hard work of figuring out who I was, I was taking the easy way out—and if I wasn’t careful, I was going to die of stress or from drug or alcohol abuse. It’s a horrible thing to die before you know who you are and what you’re living for.” (see page 36)
Who Am I and Why Am I Here?
Can you identify with the drive to succeed and consider this to be your true identity? What is the first question people ask you when they meet you—“What do you do?” We are programmed by the world to be defined by what we do.
But we are programmed by God, made in His likeness, to be called to and assigned for a job in His Kingdom, for His glory. Only through the revelation of our true selves and our true purpose can we really connect and relate to others.
“There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. We love Him because He first loved us.”—1 John 4:18-19
How can we know how to relate to others when we don’t even know how to relate to ourselves? And how can we know who we are meant to be until we connect with the God who made us? That’s the only way to find fulfillment, satisfaction, peace, and purpose in our lives.
The Object of Your Worship Says Much About Who You Are
Here’s another excerpt from Curt Landry’s book…
“There’s an interesting aspect of identity described in the Hebrew commentaries that I believe is worth exploring here. According to Esther 2:5, ‘in Shushan the citadel there was a certain Jew whose name was Mordecai the son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of Kish, a Benjamite.’
“This text calls Mordecai ‘a certain Jew,’ but it also says his lineage was that of a Benjamite. Though today we tend to confuse being Jewish with being Hebrew, the term Jew was originally applied to someone from the tribe of Judah, which was just one of the twelve tribes of Israel, as was the tribe of Benjamin.
“So, which was it? Was Mordecai a Jew (from the tribe of Judah) or a Benjamite (from the tribe of Benjamin)?
“If you look at the original language it becomes clear, because the word referring to Mordecai in this passage is yehudi. In the Torah, the Jewish term for the first five books of the Bible, it translates as yudi. And according to the Mishnah, a Hebrew commentary on the Scriptures, the term didn’t only refer to being Judaean but also described anyone who worshipped the one God.
“By implication, that meant anyone who refused idol worship or, more specifically, anyone who refused to bow down to any god other than the one true God. In other words, Jews are those who hold to the Shema, a fundamental confession of faith found in Deuteronomy 6:4: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one!’” (page 36-37, emphasis added)
Have You Been Ambushed by the Truth?
We’ve been exploring our counterfeit self and all the ways we identify ourselves—by our successes, possessions, and friends and partnerships.
But it’s time we are ambushed by the truth! Because it is the truth that sets us free! To be ambushed means we are unexpectedly attacked from someone or something from a previously concealed position.
That once-concealed truth is no longer a mystery…
“…how that by revelation He made known to me the mystery (as I have briefly written already, by which, when you read, you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ), which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to His holy apostles and prophets: that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ through the gospel…”—Ephesians 3:3-6 (emphasis added)
If you want to hear Curt Landry reveal more about your true identity, purpose, and teaching from his book Reclaiming Our Forgotten Heritage, then don’t miss his livestream messages Fridays at 7:45 PM CT!
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