Blog name and purpose

Just because I have not been writing for a couple weeks doesn't mean I haven't been thinking. This is the first blog I have kept in which I have no recent readers, and I am learning that readers motivate me to write. I think the readers I had here got discouraged during my very long absence, with good reason.

I've been thinking on the name of this blog. At first, several years ago (when I had readers) it was Yeshua Is My Salvation, then I changed it to Morning by Morning, from a favorite text, "Morning by morning He wakens me and opens my understanding to His will." Isaiah 50:4. For a short while it was Christians and Feast Days, then it was Appointed Times, for a short while it was Salvation Timeline, then Appointments, and now it is These are My Feasts! Perhaps some day I'll find exactly the right title.

The reason for all the changes is that I've been looking for a name that depicts the purpose of the blog, not just part of it, but is not too bland. "Appointments," I think, is on the bland side and not descriptive enough.

I've been studying topics that are of interest to me and that have come up as issues among some of my friends. I've seen some of these topics cause a lot of friction between people, causing distance between friends and family members, and even loss of church membership. The topics I've approached so far are the true name (must use, or not?), the trinity (yes or no), and the appointed times (feast days). It's not just hearsay that these topics have caused friendships to end. I've experienced it myself. I told a friend who called me regularly, a couple times a week, that I was studying about the trinity, that I had doubts as to whether it was a biblical doctrine. That was all, just one sentence. That friend asked me no questions, didn't ask me to explain myself, and never called or spoke to me again. I was astounded! This is the main reason for my current anonymity, though I may change that soon, for we are to give the trumpet a certain sound, and hiding behind a blur doesn't help.

People often ask me, "Do you think you have to believe these things in order to be saved?"

My answer is, "You only have to believe on Jesus to be saved. That's what the Bible tells us." A major emphasis on commandments and what we should and should not do in order to be saved is a false focus, because what we do does not save us. It is legalism. When Jesus enters us through His spirit, He lives through us, and our lives become what He wants us to be. It's His job, not ours. We invite Him in; He lives in us.

I have thought that it would be great if I could include Love in the title somehow. Still thinking.

Jesus said,

Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. - Matthew 22:37-39

So why do I bother about some of these other topics?

The Bible is here for us to learn more, to show God's hands-on approach to loving and saving humanity, to make our spiritual lives deeper and richer.

New learnings that have made my journey more meaningful include knowing that Jesus' given name was Yeshua, which means Salvation. It sent a delicious chill down my back when I learned that our Creator is the embodiment of Salvation! I still use the common name, Jesus, because in conversation everyone will know who I mean.

Another deepening of my Christian walk was learning the significance of the Feasts, also called Holy Days, God's Holidays, Appointed Times, or Moedim. These annual sabbaths are God's Salvation Timeline.  I don't mean that they are a schedule of date and time of Jesus' return, but they show how we have been saved, from His death on Passover, to His spirit being given to His followers at Pentecost (and will be again), to the last Trump when He returns and takes us home to tabernacle with Him. The Jews had this gift for centuries, but only in hindsight were they able to recognize the significance of the yearly rites and ceremonies of the tabernacle. I believe that the rites and ceremonies came to an end at the death of Jesus, but that significance of the timeline remains. I plan to study and share this topic in a future post.

He built the timeline when He planned the salvation of the world before it was created. At creation He put lights in the heavens to signal the object lessons (tabernacle services) that the people would participate in yearly -- of His work of Salvation.

And God said, “Let there be lights in the vault of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark sacred times, and days and years. Genesis 1:14

The object lessons of the appointed times were further enhanced by events He put into place to happen exactly at the times He scheduled. These historic events, -- Jesus' death at Passover, for example -- don't mean they are fully fulfilled or that a partial fulfillment means they no longer have significance to those of us who look forward to His reappearing.

As I learn of His love for me through participating in celebrating His Holy Days, I am so much the richer for having put that focus on Him!