Rabbi Schneider - Have You Missed your Destination?
Maybe you will join me in this. One of my favorite books in the Bible is the book of Ephesians. Ephesians is just like... it's such a heavenly revelation. I love Ephesians, beginning in verse 3. Ephesians 1:3, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ that has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus". First of all, it's important to know where the blessing is coming from. Paul says, "Blessed be the God," listen now, "and father of the Lord Jesus Christ".
What am I pointing out? Many Christians make Jesus the end of everything. They pray to Jesus, they sing to Jesus, they preach about Jesus. And that's great. But the problem is they don't talk about God the Father. But if you look in the writings of Scripture, both looking at Jesus' own words, He said, "Pray in this way, 'our Father thou art in heaven...'" Jesus was always living unto the Father. And you look at the words of Paul who is always talking about the Father, even here, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places".
We should think about the fact that oftentimes our walk is not centered on the Father as Jesus was, as Paul was. Our walk is only focused on Jesus. But Jesus is not the end. The Father is the end. Jesus is the way but the Father is the destination. You see, some of us have missed the destination. We've made the way the destination.
But the way is the way to the destination, who is the Father. So if you find yourself always praying to Jesus, then you need to recognize that something is off in your heart's understanding of the Godhead. Because it all comes from the Father. From the Father, through the Father, and to the Father are all things. If all your songs in your church are only to Jesus and you're not singing to the Father, then something is askew with your theology. Don't misunderstand. I believe that Jesus is God in the flesh. That the Father was in Jesus, and Jesus is in the Father. But Jesus came to bring us to the Father. Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no one comes to the Father but through Me".