Before the cross--dead in our trespasses and sins. Asleep at the wheel, if I can say it that way. The walking dead. Not, "If I sin, I will die." But, in a sense, born into sin. Now, remember, I said BEFORE THE CROSS. Because something happened at the cross that changed EVERYTHING. Jesus came to wake us from sleep. To bring us out of death and into life. HIS life. Abundant, everlasting, eternal, Resurrection Life. Isn't it interesting that when Paul wrote letters to the churches he would address their "sin" (bad behavior, as most people think of it), but instead of condemning them he'd remind them who they really are? That's all we need to do. Awake to righteousness and you WILL sin not. But we think we have to stop sinning in order to wake up. That's backwards. Jesus did the same thing in Revelation, except in Revelation He told the church who they are by telling them who HE is. That's our true identity. That's what we need to wake up to. If you're a "sinner saved by grace" that means you're not a sinner anymore! Sin is unbelief. So by definition a believer cannot sin. If you're born of God His seed remains in you and you CANNOT sin. If you know who you are you'll stop acting like someone you're not. If you know the truth--if you BELIEVE the truth that you are loved--then you'll stop looking for love in all the wrong places. You'll stop trying to earn something that can't be earned. You'll stop falling from grace. And let me just give you the complete verse for that catchphrase. Galatians 5:4, "Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace." The ONLY way to fall from grace is to put yourself back under the Law. To try to justify yourself through your actions instead of through your faith. It's not what YOU do, it's what JESUS did. And what Jesus DOES in you, and through you, and as you. Remember yesterday we saw that one man got all of us into trouble with sin and death (NOT with God), and one Man got us out of trouble. And not just out of trouble, but into life. And not just life but HIS life. We were--and many of us, unfortunately, still are--sleepwalking. Stuck in a rut. Doing the best we can with what we have, but not able to do much because we didn't think we had much. Trying to earn our bread by the sweat of our brow. Trying to make ourselves look bigger by making others look smaller. God doesn't want any of that. He doesn't--never has and never will--want what man can produce. All He ever wanted was a Lamb. And that's what He got on the cross. Look, the cross either changed everything or it didn't change anything. And I'm here to tell you it absolutely changed EVERYTHING. From darkness to light. From sleeping to awake. From death to life. That's what happened when Jesus drew us into Himself and died... and then rose again. He literally remade the world in His image. The consuming fire consumed everything but itself. Himself. And that's what's left. Jesus. God in the flesh. Love in a body. God in YOUR flesh. Love in YOUR body. That's what we have. And all we have to do is let is out. That's how we experience it. We know it and believe it. We receive it and release it. We love others with the love that we are loved with. That's what it's all about. That's why we're here. To love and be loved. To live!

The wages of sin is death, right? But that doesn't mean "if we sin, then we die." That means that when Adam sinned we ALL died. Romans 5:18-19 in the Message Bible puts it like this, "Here it is in a nutshell: Just as one person did it wrong and got us in all this trouble with sin and death, another person did it right and got us out of it. But more than just getting us out of trouble, he got us into life! One man said no to God and put many people in the wrong; one man said yes to God and put many in the right." But don't get too down on Adam. He was doing the best he could with what he (thought he) had. He just thought he didn't have anything. GOD put man into a deep sleep. Because God didn't want man's effort. That's what we see in the story of Cain and Able, right? God didn't want what man could produce. God wanted a Lamb. So after GOD put man to sleep... Jesus came to WAKE man from sleep. To get us out of all that trouble with sin and death. And notice: We were never in trouble with God. God covered man's nakedness when man's (natural) eyes were opened and he was naked and ashamed. God has us covered. Your heavenly Father has your back. He has your best interests at heart. But since man was sleepwalking... looking for love in all the wrong places and trying to earn something that can't be earned... even though God swore He would never leave us nor forsake us... WE hid from the presence of God. WE ran FROM Him instead of running TO Him. He never changed though. He never wavered. We wanted "stuff" that wasn't good for us--a human king, an external law--because we were sleeping and those things were the best we could come up with. And God relented. For a time. Because He wanted us to understand that His way is THE way. I always go back to Psalm 90:3, "Thou turnest man to destruction; and sayest, Return, ye children of men." Man's choice was never to stay in the garden with God, or to leave. Man's choice was, "Now that you've left... come home." It's what we see in the parable of the prodigal son. It's what we see when the thief on the cross asked Jesus to remember him (or to re-member him, to put him back together). It's not something we could do, no matter how hard we tried. The Law was never given so that we might keep it. The Law was given as a school master to bring us to the end of ourselves and bring us to Christ. So that we might SEE the finished work and stop trying to finish the work. So that our eyes might be opened, and the light might shine, and we might wake up! Awake to our righteousness and sin not. And don't get it twisted--we don't "stop sinning in order to awake to righteousness." That's backwards. WHEN Jesus WOKE us up--He died both for us and as us so that we could have a second death, and arise to walk in newness of life--we stopped sinning by default. Because sin is unbelief. And by definition a believer cannot unbelief. Those born of God CANNOT sin. It's impossible. Sin and death were dealt with. Now we don't have to deal with them. Now we're awake. And alive. Living and loving. Not sleepwalking, but walking in newness of life!

Let's track this: We see a verse like Romans 6:23 (NLT), "For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord," and we think it's an if-then statement. "If I sin then I'm doomed to die." But the truth of the matter is, on the day ADAM sinned HE died. And since, at that point, we were in him... we died. Look at Ephesians 2:1, "And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins." We WERE dead because of sin. Until the cross. Remember now, God put man to sleep, and then Jesus came to wake him from sleep. We WERE dead in our trespasses and sins, but then God made a NEW Covenant--all by Himself, but with us included in it--to not remember our trespasses and sins. He wiped the slate clean. He justified us. And, contrary to popular belief, that doesn't mean "just as if I'd never sinned." It means "I'm a new creature and I HAVE never sinned." And not only that, it means I CANNOT sin. Because I'm awake now. Awake to who I really am in Christ. Who Christ really is in me. No longer am I picking flower petals and hoping against hope that I land on, "He loves me," instead of, "He loves me not." Now I know and believe the love of Christ. I've received it and I'm releasing it. Now I'm not sleepwalking through life, trying to do the best I can with what I've got. Now I know what I've REALLY got. I'm not taking what the world has to offer because I'm living in, and out of, the Kingdom! I'm no longer worried about a man-centered, performance-based religion where God is some distant, angry taskmaster who is making a list and checking it twice. I've moved out of that Old Covenant and into the New Covenant. I've woken up to the truth of the matter. Not religion but relationship. Unconditional love from a Father to His beloved Son in whom He is well pleased. And guess what else: Even if I mess up, I'm not disqualified. I don't revert back to being a sinner. That's not my default position. I don't keep the wolves away from the door by acting a certain way. It's not, "Get right or get left." It's not, "Turn or burn." When I mess up I'm still the righteousness of God in Christ. Now I can simply learn from that mistake and grow because of it. Upward and onward. Upward and God-ward! I'm not sleepwalking anymore. I know I already said that, but it's kind of the whole point of this Rant series. I'm not just going through the motions. I'm not stuck in a rut--which is just a grave with both ends kicked out. I'm not dead in my trespasses and sins anymore. I've been quickened. Brought back to life. And not just any life. Not our old life. When God wiped the slate clean He wasn't hitting the reset button and then saying, "Good luck with your second chance." He didn't just give us life... He gave us HIS life. Jesus gave His life FOR us, and gave His life TO us. So that we could experience His life as He lives it in us, and through us, and as us. So that the light that He is--the light that WE are--might shine, and not only wake US up, but wake up those we come into contact with. Not with rules and regulations. Not by telling people what's wrong with them. But by mercy, and grace, and love. By telling people what's RIGHT with them. Telling the TRUTH in love. The truth that IS love!

A lot of interesting stuff happened in the Bible when people were sleeping. Most critical to our discussion is found in Genesis chapter 15. God is making a covenant with Abraham. But in Genesis 15:12 (NLT) we see that, "As the sun was going down, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and a terrifying darkness came down over him." A deep sleep. The same thing that God caused Adam to pass into in the garden of Eden. Interesting. And then, as we fast forward to verse 17 we see that, "After the sun went down and darkness fell, Abram saw a smoking firepot and a flaming torch pass between the halves of the carcasses." This covenant that God made "with" Abraham... was actually made with God... and Himself. He is the consuming fire. He is the flaming torch. And that's not a bad thing, that's a good thing. Because if God is holding up both sides of the agreement, then the agreement can't fail. It's not depending on us. But we ARE included in it. Now let's look at the New Covenant. "For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people: And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest. For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more" (Hebrews 8:10-12). God included us in this New Covenant (even though we were sound asleep) by giving us Spirit. His Son. By giving us the light of the world, and revealing to us that we ARE the light of the world. Not by punishing us, or trying to scare us straight, but by forgiving us. Forgiving and forgetting. Wiping the slate clean. Taking sin out of the equation. Taking unbelief out of the equation by giving us something (someONE, Jesus, love) to believe in. By conforming us to the image of His Son. You know, the image we were created in in the first place. The image that we longed for because we didn't understand that we already had it. That we already WERE it. We were sleepwalking through life. Accepting what the world had to offer even as we wished for something better. A more excellent way. I see this so clearly in the writings of David. Look at Psalm 51:10, "Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me." And this from the man who was after God's own heart. It's almost as if he KNOWS the truth, but can't quite believe it. He needs to UNDERSTAND what he knows. And that's where the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth that leads and guides us into all truth, comes in. He testifies of our true identity by testifying of Jesus. Telling us what's RIGHT with us instead of what's wrong with us. Waking us up to who we really are so we can stop trying to be someone we're not. It's not, "Stop sinning and then you'll wake up." It's, "Awake to righteousness--your true identity as the righteousness of God in Christ--and you WILL sin not!" Jesus came to wake us from sleep, and bring us into this New Covenant. Out of the bondage of sin and death, and into the Promised Land of rest that flows with milk and honey; righteousness and revelation!

I very rarely preach, or teach, or Rant, or talk about, or acknowledge sin. Which, as a pastor, I know raises a few eyebrows. Because most of the church world seems obsessed with it. "Cleansing the camp" and all this other stuff. Big time sin hunts all over the place. Well, for the next couple of days I'm going to Rant about it. About sin. But probably not how you're used to necessarily thinking about it. So stick with me. I want to start in Genesis (and I might just end in Revelation, but we'll see). "So the LORD God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep. While the man slept, the LORD God took out one of the man's ribs and closed up the opening" (Genesis 2:21 NLT). Now catch this, because it's important. God put man to sleep, but the Bible never says God woke man up. And from that time on in the account things got weird. Man and woman were seperate. The sepent showed up. Woman, and then man, ate from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. What most people define as "original sin" or "the fall." But to me, it all stemmed from the fact that Adam was sleepwalking. And remember, God CAUSED the man to fall into that deep sleep. This wasn't something man did in rebellion to God, or anything like that. Even when Eve swallowed the serpent's lie and ate from the tree of death, she didn't do it to spite God. She did it because she wanted to be LIKE God. She just didn't know that she was ALREADY like Him. Fast forward to Jesus. "Then he said, 'Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but now I will go and wake him up'" (John 11:11). God put man to sleep... and Jesus came to wake him up! It's the idea that we were CREATED in God's image, but it wasn't until the cross that we were CONFORMED to the image of His Son. We didn't know who we were. So we tried to do the best we could with what we had. We built a tower up to heaven to make a name for ourselves. But God didn't want us to make a name for OURSELVES. He wanted to give us a white stone with a new name in it. HIS name. HIS nature. HIS identity. God doesn't want you to be someone you're not. This phrase, "God loves you just the way you are, but He loves you too much to leave you that way" drives me nuts! He either loves you just the way you are, OR He wants to change you. Spoiler alert: It's the first one. He loves you just the way you are. There's nothing wrong with you. You just need to wake up. You need to "Awake to righteousness, and sin not; for some have not the knowledge of God: I speak this to your shame" (1 Corinthians 15:34). And, listen, I'M not saying anything to anyone's shame. I'm just trying to help us (and me) understand that we don't "sin not" in order to "awake to righteousness." Awaking to righteousness--who we really are in Him, who He really is in us--is HOW we sin not. 1 John 3:9 says it like this, "Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God." Once you wake up to the truth, the lie can't have any effect on you. And that's what sin IS; sin is unbelief. Believing the lie. And Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. He came to wake us from sleep. To awake us to righteousness. To show us who WE are, by showing us who GOD is!

People are worth spending all you are and all you have on. No, really, they are. Even when it doesn't seem like it. ESPECIALLY when it doesn't seem like it. Think about it... that person you know that is REALLY hard to love... that person that just rubs people the wrong way... that's the person that needs love the most. Because that's the person that isn't getting any love. That's the person that is giving what THEY'VE got. Because you can't give what you don't have and you can only give what you do have. Hurting people hurt people. But loved people love people. And if we--who, through the Holy Spirit, know and believe the love of God--stop judging people and just start loving people... we can change the world. We can show people a more excellent way by showing them Jesus. Showing them love. And notice, I didn't say "preaching about" Jesus. I said SHOW them Jesus. You see Jesus when you look in the mirror, because He lives inside you. Let Him out! And, again, I'm not talking about shoving Jesus down somebody's throat. If you try to do that they'll just choke on Him. They'll run FROM God instead of running TO God. You know the famous quote, "Preach the gospel at all times, and if you have to, use words." Now, as a writer I'd like to take umbrage to that... but I can't. Because actions speak louder than words. So even though most of the time I have words, and lots of them, the Word (Jesus, love) became FLESH and dwelt among us. If you want to know why I think people are so important, look no further. Jesus--literally God... LOVE--wrapped Himself in human flesh. We have it completely backwards when we try to deny this human existence and "be more Spiritual." There IS nothing more Spiritual than this human existence. It's not about going to heaven someday (And, relax, I'm not trying to take that away from you. I believe in "absent from the body, present with the Lord.") it's about EXPERIENCING heaven right NOW! The days of heaven on earth. An abundant life that is filled with love. And there's no better way to experience love than to give it away. To share it. To help someone else experience it. So. We started this Rant series talking about opportunity cost. And why choosing to love someone--to take care of someone else--is costly because it means you can't also take care of yourself. Costly, and scary. But the truth of the matter is... when you take care of someone else you ARE taking care of yourself. Because we are all in this together. We're all different parts of the same body. Listen. Nobody ever went broke by being generous. We are blessed... to be a blessing. We have been given abundance so that we can live out of our abundance. So that the Word (Jesus, love) inside US can become flesh. So that love (as an idea) can become charity (love in action). So that we can release what we've received. Make someone's day. Find that person that's hurting and meet a need. Watch what happens. And tell me that by loving another person you don't feel love incredibly strong. Love IS giving. Don't try to get it, or horde it. Understand that you have it, and give it away! It's costly, sure, but it's worth it. People are worth it. Loving people... is worth it!

To love is to give--everything you have and everything you are. And that can be costly. So it's important to make sure the juice is worth the squeeze. It's important to make sure the thing you are loving--the thing you are spending your Three T's (Time, Talent, Treasure) on--is worth it. Which brings me to my affirmation that there are only two things in the universe WORTH loving. God... and people. Love God and love people. Love God BY loving people. And listen, I'm not saying you shouldn't take care of the earth, or things like that. Of course we should. God gave us dominion over the earth. What we do with it is what will happen to it. (A quick aside, I think that's the answer to the age-old idea of US waiting for GOD to do something. He did everything He needed to do on the cross. He equipped and empowered us. I think God is waiting for US to do something!) So. God and people. The God who is love, and the people He created in His image. We are God's love letter to the world. We are the way God has chosen (most of the time) to express Himself. Now watch this: "He went away again the second time, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, thy will be done" (Matthew 26:42). Jesus knew what was up. He told His disciples that the greatest love a man can have is to lay down His life for His friends. And yet... He also knew how costly that is. And yet and yet... He knew that it was worth it. He was willing to love a world that resoundly rejected Him. He was glad to love us even though it seemed like the more He loved us, the less we loved Him. Think about it. The humiliation, and the physical beatings... choosing to have Barabus released instead of an innocent man... But He endured. I won't say He took it in stride because I'm sure it hurt. Having His back ripped to shreds, and a crown of thorns jammed on His head. Nails hammered through His hands and feet. A spear shoved into His side. None of that sounds like a good time. And He KNEW it was going to happen before hand. Jesus said in another place, "For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it?" (Luke 14:28). He knew the cost. And He counted us worthy. Worthy of His very life. Because, remember, He didn't just give His life FOR us... He gave His life TO us. He poured Himself out--giving everything He had and everything He was--and in so doing He filled us up. Filled us to overflowing. That's how He equipped and empowered us. That's how we can do what we were created to do. That's how we can love--by knowing that we ARE loved. Letting the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth, lead and guide us into all truth. Apprehending what we've been apprehended of, if I can say it that way. Filling ourselves to overflowing with what we've been filled with. Letting what's inside come out by knowing and believing that it's in there. Receiving and releasing the love of God. Loving God and loving people. Because they're worth it. Loving God BY loving people. Because He's worth it. If you're going to give something all you've got, make sure. Because it's costly. Make sure it's worth it. And tomorrow we're going to really hit home the truth that even when people don't seem like it, they (WE) ARE worth it. No matter who and no matter what.

I think there are two main reasons why we are afraid to love. Number one: I think we're afraid to lose what we've got. If we were to give everything we are and everything we have, and not get something in return... we'd be empty, right? It's that idea of opportunity cost. If I don't take care of myself, who will? And if I'm taking care of you I'm not taking care of myself. Scary. And the second reason why I think we're afraid to love is because giving ourselves--putting ourselves out there--makes us vulnerable. And sometimes just the thought of being ACCEPTED is almost as scary as the thought of being rejected. Because either way someone will get past those walls we've built. Past our defenses. Past what we choose to show most of the world most of the time. And, again, that's when you're vulnerable. Exposed. Real. When someone sees the REAL you that almost gives them a lot of power. Because you're basically giving them ammunition to use against you. The other day someone said, "Did you hear what they said about you?" And I said, "I didn't hear. But even if I had, I don't care what they say." Because they don't know me very well. So anything they DID say would probably be completely innaccurate. Or at the very least only skimming the surface. It's only the people that REALLY know you that can cut you deep. And we'd like to think that if we put ourselves out there like that, the person would be worthy of our love. But what I'm trying is say is EVERYONE is worthy. But loving indiscriminately like that is terrifying. And it's costly. Because some people WILL take advantage of you. Remember our key verse, 2 Corinthians 12:15 in the NLT, "I will gladly spend myself and all I have for you, even though it seems that the more I love you, the less you love me." Even though. That's the key. Love doesn't judge by appearance. We don't only love the "safe" people. PERFECT love casts out fear. God is no respecter of persons. Which means LOVE is no respecter of persons. It rains on the just and the unjust alike, right? No matter what someone looks like... they need love just as much as the next person. We all do. It's THE basic human need. Rich people kill themselves too, right? Because sometimes you're so poor that you only have money. And money can't buy happiness. Or love. Only by knowing the God who IS love can we experience that love. Can we receive it and release it. Can we give it away without a thought. Without a care. Not worrying about the cost, or the result. Not worrying about what we "get" from loving someone. If you're trying to get something, it's not love. Love IS giving. Paul wrote that he would GLADLY give everything he is and everything he has. That's perfect love. Mature love. That's the love that never fails, because that's the love that endures. The love that the Spirit and the bride speak of when they say, "Come." Guys. They don't say, "Come, or else." They say, "Come and get it." Jesus prepared the table for us. HE paid the bill. He did it all so we could get it all. And now we have it all. But it's too good to keep to ourselves. So we ought to share it. We ought to let what's inside come out by filling ourselves to overflowing with what we've been filled with!

This verse in the New Living Translation really changed my whole perspective on what love is; 2 Corinthians 12:15, "I will gladly spend myself and all I have for you, even though it seems that the more I love you, the less you love me." It's basically the same thing Jesus said when He said, "There is no greater love than to lay down one's life for one's friends" (John 15:13 NLT). But you know how you can hear something a million times, and it almost kind of loses it's meaning? But then you hear the same thing in a different way and it opens up a whole new world? That's where I'm at with this. Love--true, agape, God love--is giving everything you are and everything you have. Regardless of the perceived outcome. (And I say "perceived" because while the Apostle Paul wrote that it SEEMS like the more he loves, the less he is loved... the truth of the matter is that love conquers all. Love CONQUERED all 2,000 years ago on an old rugged cross. So even if it seems like your love is not making a difference, or worse yet being rejected, the truth is that love is the only thing that CAN make a real, lasting difference.) Love isn't about getting. It's about giving. Love IS giving. So when we're talking about loving people... that can be costly. Laying your life down for someone else. Giving maximum effort--everything you are and everything you have. That can be scary. Especially if you're afraid of losing what you've got. But guys... we are connected to an unlimited source. The very God who IS love lives inside of us. And while I'm not necessarily sure that the love you take is equal to the love you make... I AM sure that the more you give it away the more you have. Love is what makes abundant life abundant. And it's not something we need to get. It's something--someONE--we've already got. Someone we already ARE. Because in the same way that love isn't just what God does, but it's WHO God is... love isn't just what WE do, either. Love is who we are. We don't have the beast nature anymore. Jesus did away with the Old Man on the cross. We have HIS nature. The love nature. And as far as being afraid to love... look at 1 John 4:18, "There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love." Love is about GLADLY paying the cost of helping others. Not doing it stingily (if that's a word) or doing it because you think it'll earn you something. Again--not trying to GET anything from anyone. But simply giving because you HAVE something to give. And notice I said, "simply" not "easily." Because sometimes it's NOT easy. Sometimes that selfish idea of "but I need to take care of myself" creeps in. That's when we need faith the most. Because faith is trust. Having faith in God because He has proven Himself faithful. Trusting Him because He has proven Himself trustworthy. Giving what we've got WITHOUT fear because we know our heavenly Father has our backs. Because we know that it's more real when we give it away, when we share it. Because we know that as costly as it is to spend ourselves (our three t's) when we spend ourselves on people... it's worth it. People are worth the effort. Worth the price. Worth the cost.

I don't know why this is, but one of the biggest things--ideas, concepts, whatever--that learned in school, one of the few things that really made an impression on me, is the idea of opportunity cost. Which basically means, if you do one thing you give up the opportunity to do something else. Which means there is no such thing as a free lunch, if I can say it that way. EVERYTHING comes with a cost. The trick is deciding whether the juice is worth the squeeze. Whether doing that thing is worth what it'll cost. My grandpa always says, "You can do anything you're willing to pay the conquences for." (And maybe that's why learning it a different way in school resonated with me, but I digress.) Let me quote a Bible verse that kind of says what I'm trying to say. 2 Samuel 24:24 NLT, "But the king replied to Araunah, "No, I insist on buying it, for I will not present burnt offerings to the LORD my God that have cost me nothing." So David paid him fifty pieces of silver for the threshing floor and the oxen." And while this might seem like King David was going out of his way to incure a cost, which is something that we seem to want to avoid at all costs... that's kind of the point. Because (again) EVERYTHING comes with a cost. And most of the time you get what you pay for. If it's worth a lot, it costs a lot. So when we're allocating our three t's (Time, Talent, Treasure) we need to make sure what we're spending them on is worth it. Proverbs 4:7 in the NIV kind of sums this up: "The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom. Though it cost all you have, get understanding." Wisdom and understanding. See, the problem isn't what we know or don't know. We have an unction from the Holy One and we know all things. Deep down inside there's the truth of the matter. In the heart of the matter. The problem is that we don't understand what we know. Or we aren't wise enough to let what's deep down inside come out. We don't trust the truth--that our heavenly Father loves us, and always has, and always will--so we go around looking for love in all the wrong places. Instead of enjoying the gift we've been given, by receiving it and releasing it, we rob ourselves of that gift by trying to earn something that can't be earned. We cost ourselves the Kingdom by trying to have the world. And sometimes it's easier to just accept the world. The world is SCREAMING at us while the Kingdom speaks in a still, small, voice. Sometimes it seems like we are giving up a lot when we choose the high road. But, "...what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul?" (Mark 8:36 NLT). What's worth more? What you want NOW, or what you want MOST? And, as we're going to see as we get into this idea, the only REAL thing worth giving all you have and all you are... the only REAL thing worth spending your three t's on... is people. I've always said there are only two important things in this universe: God and people. Love God and love people. Love God BY loving people. And don't get me wrong, this is a costly way to live. But don't get me wrong... it's worth it.