I don’t remember how I first came across the concept of Kabbalah,but upon hearing about this concept of “Jewish Mysticism”, I was intrigued. It was (and still is) touted as a way to understand God through a more in-depth and mystical fashion. As I began reading about it I found that most of the beliefs are indeed originally based in scripture, but much of it seemed to be ethereal and kind of “spiritually” if you know what I mean.

Well, I decided to purchase a well known book about Kabbalah published by what is to be considered the highest Kabbalah authority. It took me all of about a page to realize: “This ain’t Biblical.” It was self-serving, ego-centric, and flat out false doctrine. I closed the book, walked outside, and threw it in the trash.

Again, I don’t exactly remember what prompted my journey into attempting to find deeper spirituality in my faith, but I assume I was somehow bored in my walk. I recall a time in my life that I was very regimented in my quiet time in the morning, praying and writing in my journal at lunch, and another quiet time at night. Sounds great, right? Only one problem: my heart wasn’t in it. I was ticking a box. I was trying to force my relationship with God to improve by saying, “Look God! Look at all these things I’m doing!” All the while, my heart was disconnected.

Perhaps the Galatians had the same problem: They knew the truth and began their new walk, but were doing things out of obligation rather than allowing the significance of Chriat’s death to truly impact and change their heart so that these things are not obligations, but lifestyle changes. Don’t force yourself to read three chapters of the Bible a day if you aren’t going to let the scripture change your heart. Don’t recite the Lord’s Prayer before going to bed just to say you did. These are just things. These are noisy cymbals.

Stop. Breathe. Listen. What is He asking of you?