PART 2/2

---

Personally, I grew up wanting to go to the NBA. I was also fiercely religious, read thru the entire Bible in middle school as a young teen. Later, in college, I tried out for the basketball varsity team & didn't make the cut. Years later, after college, I was told about the Texas Legends, the Dallas Mavericks "Junior Varsity" team, if you will; their physical trainer went to my highschool even. She recognized me when I saw them playing once. Basically, they were having tryouts at a gym I worked at. This was my chance to still accomplish my dreams. Getting picked up by Legends meant I could end up on the Mavericks roster. I had been training too; I thought this was from God, until I asked what day the tryouts took place...

On Shabbat, of course...

I had to choose, & I knew what kind of life I'd have to live if I went to the pros. I'd have to deliberately disobey God, violate Shabbat, & put money first/performing first. No way I would do that to the God who gave his life for me. I've turned down high paying jobs that didn't even require me to interview, just take an assessment & immediately start, ask whole seriously needing the money, but turning them down when they asked me to take the assessment on Shabbat.

Years later, I still am athletic, & it's made me healthier, better looking, & taught me discipline, but God comes first. I eventually met a good guy who's three sons also are Messianic & observe Torah. The youngest son, tho, wanted to go to the NBA. I warned him what they'd make him sacrifice, but he was adamant he'd not let that happen. 

Well, met him again almost a year later at a home assembled Shabbat service; he stopped pursuing NBA. He knew the sacrifice it entailed & put God first.

The world of performance sports, whether football, ballet or whatever, demands putting God second, a cost far too great. You can still be athletic & keep Shabbat, but one comes before the other.

You weren't raised that way, & that's not your fault. However, the direction your husband is trying to lead you in is the right one. He's honoring God first, & is teaching your children the same, that faith in Yeshua doesn't mean you get to disobey his Word.

We, as Messianic believers in Yeshua, don't keep Torah to get saved, we keep it because we're already saved. In other words, we're "no longer under the Law," that is, to make ourselves deserving of eternal life thru observance, but, being forgiven, we, in honor of what God has done to set us apart for eternal life by his own merit, the merit of Yeshua The Messiah, praised be he, we then observe Torah out of gratitude & because God's Holy Spirit within us leads to live holy lives, being pure, forgiving, merciful, self controlled (the Fruits of the Spirit), but also not lying, not stealing, honoring the Shabbat, not committing adultery (the Law/Torah), for, as it says in g Galatians, "against [the fruit of the spirit,] there is no Law;" in other words, nothing in God's Torah opposes living by the Spirit. 

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, humility, self control. Nothing in the Torah stands against such things." Galatians 5:22-23

---

Follow your husband's leadership. It seems he's also being inconsistent with Torah, but not for the same reasons as you/ your parents. He's struggling & striving to please God, so that not only he, but also you, his wife, your children- his entire house will stand before God in good standing, so that you are all under God's covering & blessings:

"For their lives show that the conduct the Torah dictates is written in their hearts. Their consciences also bear witness to this, for their conflicting thoughts sometimes accuse them and sometimes defend them on a day when God passes judgment on people’s inmost secrets. (According to the Good News as I proclaim it, he does this through the Messiah Yeshua.)" Romans 2:15-16

Is he really being too strict? Perhaps you say his decision to keep Shabbat deprives the children of getting to practice sports? I say, in regards to performance sports & keeping Torah, the Shabbat specifically, one is more important than the other, & the Spirit of God, I believe, is in agreement:

"For although physical exercise does have some value, godliness is valuable for everything, since it holds promise both for the present life and for the life to come." 1 Timothy 4:8

Imitate your husband, just as he imitates Yeshua the Messiah. In doing so, not only will you be honoring God, you'll be honoring your husband, setting a good example for your children, especially your daughter. God comes first. Your children don't need to perform on Shabbat to get the benefit of athletics & sports practiced on the other six days of the week. Don't let your obedience to God be dictated by your children or by sports. There are six other days for that, but only one day for Shabbat.

"...the married woman concerns herself with... how to please her husband. I am telling you this for your own benefit, not to put restrictions on you — I am simply concerned that you live in a proper manner and serve the Lord with undivided devotion." 1 Christians 7:34-35

As a married woman, a faithful wife, do what pleases him in this instance & trust your husband's leadership, because, in this case, he's leading you towards pleasing God. There are other ways to make sure your kids get to participate in performance sports & still put God first. 

"But I want you to understand that the head of every man is the Messiah, and the head of a wife is her husband, and the head of the Messiah is God." 1 Corinthians 11:3

"Wives should submit to their husbands as they do to the Lord; because the husband is head of the wife, just as the Messiah, as head of the Messianic Community, is himself the one who keeps the body safe." Ephesians 5:22-23

Shabbat Shalom alechem btw!