One day, I think it was last year, I was reading the Bible (as I often do), and I found myself in 1 Corinthians. Specifically I found myself in 1 Corinthians chapter 13. You know, "the love chapter." And, really, outside of the writings of John it probably IS the best specific discource on love in the Bible. But something struck me when I reading it: A distinct lack of the word, "love." It was all "charity this," and "charity that." My question, then, was why use THAT word? Why not just SAY love if love is what you're talking about? And almost immediately I heard Daddy speak to my Spirit. And He said, "Son, charity is love in action." It was like a lightbulb turning on. Of course Paul talks about charity. Because Paul was a pretty practical guy. He used the Old Testament to PROVE that Jesus was the Messiah. He had some ideas, sure, but the one thing he professed to KNOW was Christ... and Him crucified! Not just the idea of Jesus, not even just the person of Jesus, but what Jesus actually did, and what that finished work accomplished. And what the cross accomplished is (and I'm not saying this is ALL it accomplished, I'm just saying this is the focus for our Rant series), what the cross accomplished is that now we can know and believe the love of Christ. And by knowing and believing it we can receive it and release it. We can walk in it. We can put it in action! Because of God's love for us--expressed in it's greatest form when He gave His life for us and gave His life to us--we can love each other. We can talk the talk AND we can walk the walk. To me, walking the walk is much more important. I've had some of the best conversations with people about Jesus... without ever even saying the word, "Jesus." I just use His other name. Love. Because whether you "accept Jesus" or not... you crave love. It's like Paul (again) who said, "For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, TO THE UNKOWN GOD. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you" (Acts 17:23). And in my own example, I think there will be a time for that. A time to speak the name of Jesus. But if I'm going to put love into action, I'm NOT going to try to force Jesus down people's throats. Because all that will come of that is people choking on Him. And that's the opposite of what we want, isn't it? We want to make Jesus inviting, so people will run TO Daddy instead of running FROM Daddy. And the best way to make Him inviting is to love people. Pure and simple. SHOW them who Jesus is rather than telling them ABOUT Jesus. It's so much more important to KNOW HIM (with a heart knowledge, through relationship) than it is to know ABOUT Him. Head knowledge will puff you up. But heart knowledge will FILL you up. And when you're full (to overflowing) with what you've already been filled with... that's when it comes out naturally. That's when the love you know (and believe) becomes the charity that you DO. We don't do in order to be, we do because we be. Faith without works is dead. Love that isn't charity doesn't really help anybody.

I saved this Rant for the end because I think--I hope--it ties a bow on what we've been talking about. Ok. Here's my thought for today: When you love somebody, paying the price, making the sacrifice, laying down your life for them... is easy. It doesn't feel like a sacrifice at all. It doesn't feel like you're missing out on anything at all. It feel good. It feels wonderful. It feels RIGHT. Because there is no greater joy in this world than sharing the love that God has for you with someone else. Jesus said it this way, "...It is more blessed to give than to receive" (Acts 20:35). And of course you have to receive BEFORE you can give... because if you don't first receive then you don't have anything to give... but receiving it's the be all end all. Giving is. Love IS giving. I've heard it say you can give without loving, but you can't love without giving. God so loved the world that He GAVE His only begotten Son. So when we love each other, by definition we are giving ourselves to each other. Sacrificing ourselves for each other. Esteeming others higher than ourselves, and choosing to look out for them instead of looking out for ourselves. I love what Paul said--even though it is so often misquoted--in Philippians 4:19. How I always hear people misquote it is this, "God shall supply all MY need according to his riches in glory." And while that may be true (in fact, God has ALREADY supplied all MY need), that's not what Paul said. The quote is, "But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus." MY God will supply YOUR need. I already have what I need. And because I have it, I can share it with you. So now YOU are covered. I was already covered, and I'm covering you, so now we're all covered. I take care of you, you take care of me, and neither of us needs to take care of ourselves. It's so freeing to be safe and secure in Daddy's arms. Instead of running around like a chicken with my head cut off, trying to make sure I'M ok... I can use my time, talent, and treasure making sure YOU'RE ok. And, again, because I love you, this isn't a burden. This is my reasonable service. This is what I WANT to do with my time, talent, and treasure. I want to help people. Not because I need anything from people, but because I have something to GIVE to people. Jesus' sacrifice on the cross gave me everything I will ever need. And not only gave it to me, but gave it to me in abundance. So now, because of what I've been filled to overflowing with, I have something to give. Something to share. Something to say. I have love to give. Love to share. Love to say. It flows out of my belly like a river of living water. Not because I force it to, but because that's what it does naturally. That's what a new creature, a new man does. With a LOVE NATURE we love... naturally. And here's the kicker. Here's the grand finale. With a love nature love isn't just what we do. Love is who we are! Jesus, our true identity, is God in the flesh. Love in a body. God in OUR flesh. Love in OUR body. So that sacrifice--giving what we've got, giving who we are--is the most natural thing in the world. It's not hard. It's not a burden. It's just love.

One of the things I learned in high school--or at least one of the things I REMEMBER learning in high school--is that nothing is free. Everything has a cost. At the very least, there is an opportunity cost attached to every decision. And what that means is that if I choose one thing, I miss out on something else. I can't go to the movies AND go bowling at the same time. If I choose the movies I lose the opportunity to go bowling. And while this may seem like a small price to pay, since I like the movies way more than bowling, the fact remains that I had to sacrifice bowling. And to me this is the cost that we saw when I started this Rant. When King David insisted on paying for the things that were necessary for his sacrifice. It didn't HURT him to pay it, just like missing out on bowling wouldn't hurt me. But it was still a price that had to be paid. In the same way, when we present ourselves as a living sacrifice--when we lay OURSELVES down for our friends--we're paying that price. We're putting someone else's wants or needs ahead of our own. Philippians 2:2-5 says it like this, "Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but let each esteem other better than themselves. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus." This is where it gets awesome. Because even while I'M laying my life down for you... you're laying you're life down for me! When we start to lay ahold of this love of God--this love that IS God--we know what we have and we start sharing what we have. We stop worrying about ourselves. This opportunity cost where I can either help you or help myself... it stops even being a question. It becomes, "I'm going to help you because God has already helped me!" And while I'm helping you, it turns out that you're helping me anyway! Every man is looking on the things of others. I'm taking care of you--laying my life down for you--and you're taking care of me--laying your life down for me--and in that way neither one of us has to look out for ourselves! It's a Holy Ghost wildfire that lights up everything it touches and just feeds on itself until it grows and grows and burns out of control, completely consuming everything and everybody with love! I guess what I'm trying to say is: When you love somebody, sacrificing yourself for them isn't hard. It isn't even really a decision you have to make. It's nature. Human nature. TRUE human nature... which I believe is the love nature. And all we have to do is let the mind of Christ (that's already in us) BE in us. All we have to do is believe. LET God love us so that we have love to give to one another. To SHARE with one another. A living sacrifice doesn't kill himself trying to be someone he's not. A living sacrifice let's the living God live in (and through, and as) him! It's easy to lay your life down for someone else when you understand that Jesus laid His life down for you. It's easy to give what you've got when you KNOW what you've got, and when you know that it's too good to keep to yourself!

True love is sacrifical love. Laying down your life for your friends. This is what Jesus literally did on the cross. And it's what we do every time we esteem someone else higher than ourselves. Look at Romans 12:1, "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service." That phrase is interesting to me, and very important. A LIVING sacrifice. Because, as we saw yesterday, God doesn't NEED anything from you. He doesn't need your life. In fact, He gave you HIS life. He doesn't want you to die for Him, He wants you to live for Him! And, again, we live for Him by living for each other. We love Him by loving each other. We present our bodies as a living sacrifice to Him by sacrificing for each other. By meeting the needs of each other. Taking care of each other. Let me ask you this? Bottom line, end of the day, what's acceptable to God? Obeying the New Commandment, right? Loving others as God loves us, right? Receiving and releasing the gift of God that IS eternal life! So when we think about this kind of sacrifical love, when we think about paying the price, it's not a burden. It's our REASONABLE service. I preach and Rant a lot about executing the judgment (of life) that was handed down from Father to Son on the cross. And in the book of Psalms we see that executing this judgment is an honor. So many times I see "religious folk" carry (or drag) the idea of God around like a ball and chain. It seems to weigh them down and they certainly don't get any joy out of people. People who don't know who they are and are struggling to "deny themselves" and be someone they're not. That's not life. That's absolutely not ABUNDANT life! I'm telling you... even though love is a sacrifice, when you truly know how loved you are it's the easiest thing in the world to do. We don't present ourselves as a living sacrifice because we're afraid of the consequences if we don't. We present ourselves as a living sacrifice because what we have is to good to keep to ourselves. We are filled to overflowing with God's love--with God!--and we couldn't keep it to ourselves if we tried. That's why it's our reasonable service. Because it's the most natural thing in the world. Before the cross, we had this selfish, soulish, beast nature. We didn't know what we had so we tried to get everything we could. We looked for love in all the wrong places because we didn't know where the source was. WHO the source was. But now, on this side of the cross, we don't have a beast nature. We have a love nature. We know what we've got, and instead of thinking it's too good to be true, we know that it's so good it must be true! And it's so good that we must share it. Because it's what everybody--EVERYBODY--needs. Because it's love. We have it, and it's our reasonable service to share it. It's not a burden to share it. It's not hard to share it. There's a cost attached, and we'll look at that cost in depth tomorrow, but it's a small price to pay. It's a living sacrifice because it's all about life. All about light. All about love!

I really only have one thought for today: When we talk about sacrifice, we're not sacrificing ourselves to GOD. We're sacrificing ourselves to EACH OTHER. Which, in a way, is the same thing. Because we love God BY loving each other. But the distinction, the point, I'm trying to make is this: God doesn't require that we sacrifice to Him. That was the Old Covenant, and Jesus fulfilled that covenant on the cross as the final, ultimate, perfect sacrifice. Let me say it like this, "He is the God who made the world and everything in it. Since he is the Lord of heaven and earth, he doesn't live in man-made temples, and human hands can't server his needs--for he has no needs. He himself gives life and breath to everything, and he satisfies every need" (Acts 17:24-25 NLT). God doesn't NEED anything from you. Psalm 50:12 says it like this, "If I were hungry, I would not tell thee: for the world is mine, and the fulness thereof." We spend so much time and energy trying to "take care of God," when all Daddy wants to do is take care of us! And He takes care of us by putting people in our lives to take care of us! I'm so sick and tired of this idea that we think asking for help is a sign of weakness. It's not a sign of weakness, it's a sign of wisdom! We're all in this together. And there are some things I can do that you can't, and some things that you can do that I can't. So when we work together, that's when it can all get done. Which brings me back to my original point: The sacrifice we make is for EACH OTHER. Jesus didn't say the greatest expression of love a man can have is to lay down His life for His God. The sum of the Law and the Prophets--the Old Covenant--was to love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul and strength and mind. But the NEW Covenant, the NEW commandment, is to love ONE ANOTHER as Jesus loves you. Jesus said the greatest expression of love a man can have is to lay down his life for HIS FRIENDS. And, again, that's how we love God; by loving each other. But it seems like sometimes we neglect each other so that we can "love God." When Jesus went away by Himself to pray, but then people came to Him with needs, He didn't order them to come back later. He dropped what He was doing and took care of PEOPLE. I truly believe there are only two important things in all of existence: God and people. And because those are the two important things, we ought to love them both. Love God, and love people. Love God BY loving people. God doesn't NEED our prayers. And He certainly doesn't need our religious jumping jacks and all the hoops we try to jump through (and worse yet, try to get others to jump through). He doesn't NEED anything from us. But, like any good Father, He WANTS the best for us. And the best... in a word... is love. That's why Jesus gave His life for us and gave His life to us. He filled us up with that love so that we could share it. Yesterday we looked a little bit at paying the price. No sacrifice without cost. But the glorious part of it is that He gave us the currency--the LOVE--that allows us to pay that price! He gave us what we need in order to sacrifice for each other. He gave us life (true, abundant, everlasting, eternal, Resurrection Life) so that we COULD lay our lives down for our friends!

I'm not sure how this Rant series is gonna go. But, as always, I believe God parts things on my heart for a reason. So I'm just gonna share it. Try to explore it over the next couple of days. Ok. I think about love a lot. Like... all the time. I'm kind of obsessed with it. And one of the things about love that I keep coming back to is found in John 15:13, "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." See, there are many forms of love, and many aspects of love, but the greatest expression of love is to sacrifice yourself. And I know that Jesus was speaking literally, because He literally went to the cross and laid His life down for us, but I also think He was speaking figuratively. This theme is picked up in quite a few places in the New Testament. Talking about bearing one another's burdens, and about esteeming others higher than yourself. Jesus spoke of taking the lesser seat rather than the greater seat. Humbling yourself. And the best definition I've ever heard of humbling yourself is, "not thinking less of yourself, just thinking of yourself less." I love that. Because even when you lay down your life for your friend, it's not because they're better than you, or you're better than them. It's simply because you love them. Let me quote one of my favorite movies to describe what I'm trying to say, "Deserve's got nothing to do with it." We don't love people because they've earned it. We love people because God loves us. Period. That love inside of us overflows out of us. That's the TRUE natural order of things. That's the Kingdom economy. We ARE loved, so we CAN love. Jesus laid His life down for us, we can lay our lives down for each other. It's that simple. Notice I didn't say it's that EASY. Because this is where it kind of gets complicated. Because while I absolutely believe that you can't run out of what you've got--it's ABUNDANT, after all--giving what you've got still costs something. Look at 1 Chronicles 21:23-24, "And Ornan said unto David, Take it to thee, and let my lord the king do that which is good in his eyes: lo, I give thee the oxen also for burnt offerings, and the threshing instruments for wood, and the wheat for the meat offering; I give it all. And king David said to Ornan, Nay; but I will verily buy it for the full price: for I will not take that which is thine for the LORD, nor offer burnt offerings without cost." David insisted on paying the price. Now don't mistake me here, I'm not saying God wants something from you that will hurt you to give. Because God always supplies our need according to His riches and glory. It didn't hurt David at all to pay the full price because God had made David rich. I'm trying to say, sometimes we have this idea where, "It's my life and I'm going to live it for myself." But that's absolutely NOT how it works. We live our lives for others, and in that way we truly live. I think about happiness a lot too, and I'm convinced that the best way to BE happy is to make others happy. The best way to FEEL loved is to make others feel loved. So even when we pay the price... it's an investment. Because we always get it back even more than we gave! Not that that's our motivation, but it's a pretty sweet fringe benefit. More on this tomorrow.

Here's the thing about light: Light doesn't CHANGE anything. If you're in the kitchen and the light is off... and then you turn the light on... you're still in the kitchen. But the difference is that when the light shines you KNOW where you are and you can ENJOY where you are. Now, instead of stumbling around in the dark, you can make yourself a tasty snack. THAT'S the difference. Let me say it like this, "Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner: but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God; Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began, But is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel" (2 Timothy 1:8-10). Jesus' life is the light of men. When God said, "Let there be light" He was giving us the gift of eternal life. But guess what: Eternal life doesn't start when you "accept" it, or "receive" it. Eternal life always has been and always will be. It's like a river. And what happens when you accept it is simply that you jump into the stream and start to flow. What I'm trying to say is: the Lamb was slain from the foundation of the world. There has never been a time when the light--the abundant, eternal, everlasting, Resurrection Life of Jesus--wasn't present. We just didn't know it. We couldn't see it. Because, in a sense, the light hadn't yet been brought to light. The light wasn't shining in it's (His) fulness yet. That's what the cross was. The cross was the complete and total manifestation of the marriage between God and man. The merging of God IN man. He filled us with His Spirit, and when He did that the light overflowed out of us! The light was always there, but now the light SHINES without ever stopping. In the Jewish temple there were lamps. And in Exodus 27:20 there was this command, "And thou shalt command the children of Israel, that they bring thee pure oil olive beaten for the light, to cause the lamp to burn always." That oil is the Holy Spirit! The Holy Spirit is what causes our light to shine! Because the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth. Leading and guiding us into all truth. All truth being that the Father loveth the Son and hath given all things into His hands. All truth being that Daddy loves you! So in order to shine on... that's all we have to do. Let our light shine by letting God love us. By receiving and releasing His love. And, again, this won't CHANGE anything. But it'll do something better than that. It'll REVEAL the change that took place 2,000 years ago on an old rugged cross. And that'll FEEL like a change. That'll FEEL like EVERYTHING changes. Because all of a sudden light, and life, and love will explode into the situation. We know that we have passed out of death and into life because we love one another. Because the light is shining and we can SEE that WE are loved. And when we know (and believe) the love of Christ... when we know what we've got... that's when we can SHARE what we've got. Because it's too good to keep to ourselves!

Remember in the last Rant series how we learned that Jesus lit us up with His life, which is the light of men? Well that's not all He did. He put us on display. Look at Matthew 5:15-16, "Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before me, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven." There's a couple of key things here. First I want to hit the truth that we don't MAKE our light shine. We LET it shine. The song says, "This little light of mine, I'm gonna LET it shine." Light shines because it's light. That's it's nature. And we are the light of the world. We don't shine because we try really hard to shine. So even when we see that our light illuminates our good works, I don't want us to get the idea that our good works PRODUCES the light. Because works don't work. Righteous people do righteous things, not the other way around. We don't do righteous things in order to be righteous. We don't try to get the light. We shine because we HAVE the light. Because we ARE the light. Another key to see here is that, again, we are on display. Does it ever feel like as soon as you "became a Christian" (if I can say it that way), people started really watching you? Just waiting for you to mess up so they could point a finger and say, "See! You're no better than I am?" Well, get used to it. Because Christians ARE looked at differently. And a lot of it, I think, is our fault. Because we preach tolerance with one hand while condemning everything in sight with the other hand. And that makes us look like hypocrites. That's why it's so hard for the world to pick up what we're laying down. I'm telling you, if you try to shove Jesus down someone's throat, all they're going to do is choke on it. That's NOT what evangelism, or being a missionary, or a disciple, or whatever, is all about. It's all about shining the light. It's all about love. It's all about SHOWING people something different. Something better than what they already have. The world has plenty of condemnation to go around. That's why there's NO condemnation in Christ. We have a more excellent way. And His name is Jesus. His name is love. We aren't trying to "scare people straight." We are simply opening our arms in the same love embrace that Jesus had for us on the cross. Simply telling people, "It's ok. I love you." We don't have to fix people. We simply bear the fruit of the Spirit (which is love) that the Vine produces. We simply receive what we've been given and release it to those around us. That's why you but the candle on a candlestick, so everybody can enjoy the light. That's why God put you where you are. Because there are people around you who need love. And you have it. People in darkness need light. And that's you. People are watching you, yes. But that's a good thing. Because if they weren't watching they couldn't see your good works (again, the ONLY good work is charity, love in action. And we do that work not in order to get something, but because we have something). So shine on. Even if you mess up. Even if people are watching. ESPECIALLY if they are watching. Because they need to see what you've got.

How do we shine? By trying really hard to "do everything right"? That's pretty much the world's definition, isn't it? But while we are--in a sense--in the world, we are not of the world. And I say, "in a sense" because REALLY we're in the Kingdom. Really we ARE the Kingdom. But I digress. Shining isn't about trying really hard to be someone you're not. Shining is about being who you are. And since you're dead and your life is hid in Christ... the only way to KNOW who you are is to know who HE is. That's what I believe John the revelator was saying in 1 John 3:2, "Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is." I DON'T believe this is a verse about one human being named Jesus "coming back" in one human body. I believe this verse is about Jesus--God in the flesh, love in a body--appearing... to us and in us and through us! We will "be like him" because He will be like Himself in us! Listen, we know that as He is, so are we in this world. We don't need to do anything to "be like Him" except believe that we are like Him, and get to know Him. If we don't know what He's like, how can we be like Him? And it all comes from inside. We are the light of the world, because He is the light of the world and He lives in us. His life is the light of men. Now watch this, "Six days later, three of them saw that glory. Jesus took Peter and the brothers, James and John and led them up a high mountain. His appearance changed from the inside out, right before their eyes. Sunlight poured from his face. His clothes were filled with light" (Matthew 17:1-2 MSG). Changed from the inside out. What's inside--or what you BELIEVE is inside--always comes out. You can't give what you don't have and you can only give what you do have. So if it's inside, it has to come out. And look what was inside: Sunlight. SONLIGHT. Even His clothes were filled with light. We affect everything around us. Not just ourselves, and not even just other people. Everything. All of creation is groaning for the MANIFESTATION of the Son(s) of God. When He appears--in us--when He manifests, from the inside out... that's when (and how) we shine. Not by never making a mistake... not by trying to be someone we're not... but simply by doing whatever we do in love. Here's my old example: I'm a writer. That's what I do. And I wrote for a long time without it accomplishing anything. Wrote what I would call, "pulp" and what my grandma would--and has--called trash. But then I started to learn about Jesus. Learn about ME. (Because what's true about Him is true about me.) And then I started to write Jesus. And now I've published over half a dozen books. See what I mean? When we do what we do in love it's unstoppable. It's too big--to bright--to hold back. And some people might not understand it, they might run from it, but the Word will not fall void. It (love) will accomplish what it set out to do. Because in reality it has already accomplished it. The work is finished. We are loved. And we--through the Holy Spirit--KNOW that we are loved. We receive it, and release. We shine!

Isn't it interesting that when Moses came down from Mount Sinai--after having a face-to-face encounter with God--HIS face was shining? Shining so brightly that it scared people? Believe it or not, that's what true, sacrificial, unselfish, unconditional agape love does. It scares people. It seems like it's too good to be true. It makes people feel weird because they aren't used to it. They are used to being used and abused. Or, at the most, that selfish "I'll scratch your back if you scratch mine," kind of "love." It's unexpected, and it's surprising, and a lot of the time people don't know how to handle it. Let me say it another way: "And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not" (John 1:5). But here's the deal... just beacuse the "darkness," or the world, unbelievers, "sinners," or whatever you want to call it doesn't comprehend your light, that DOESN'T mean you should stop shining. I'm convinced that when you understand where your shine comes from you can't stop shining anyway. Because it's not what you DO, it's who you ARE. Love isn't just what God does, it's who God IS. And watch this: "But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8). God didn't wait for us to make the first move. He made the first move! He made the Way of Grace, and all we have to do is respond to it with the Walk of Faith. Jesus said no man could come to the Father unless he was first drawn BY the Father. This isn't something that comes (first) from us. It comes from the source. And what other source of love could there be than the God who IS love? We waste so much time, and talent, and treasure looking for love in all the wrong places... running FROM God instead of running TO God. Just like those people of Israel that I mentioned earlier who were afraid of Moses' shine. Look at Numbers 6:25, "The LORD make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee." OUR shine is really HIS shine! OUR light is really HIS light! His face shines on us, and when we look in the mirror with an open face--with the veil, or the stone, of the Law taken, or rolled, away--we see that glory and are changed into that same image FROM glory TO glory! The glory is already there. It's inside of us because HE is inside of us. Because LOVE is inside of us. And it's what's INSIDE that shines OUTSIDE. What's in you comes out of you. Or rather, it's what you BELIEVE is in you that comes out of you. When you know where your shine comes from, it's impossible to stop shining. When you know where your love comes from it's impossible to stop loving. We're not trying to do anything or be anybody. We're simply being ourselves and doing what we do naturally. Not an old man with a beast nature, trying to earn something because he doesn't know what he's got, but a New Man with a love nature who knows what He's got, and knows that it is too good to keep to Himself! I guess what I'm trying to say is that people may not understand "what you're up to" when you love them. But at that point it won't matter because the love (the shine) inside is overflowing out of you naturally and you couldn't stop it if you wanted to!