“Correcting” an aggressive driver on the road. “Losing it” with a screaming child in the store. We may think we’re far removed from the horror show described in this week’s Torah reading, כִּי־תָבוֹא Ki Tavo (“when you come in,” Deut. 26:1–29:8), but each of us encounters stress that pushes off any mask over our true characters.
A key point in this passage is entering and living in the “rest” God gives us, fully realized through the Messiah and the Spirit. Like Israel’s move from Mitsraim (Egypt) to the Land, our entering God’s “rest” (Hebrews 3–4) is all about a change of identity, purpose and character.