"Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God" (Matthew 5:8). Guys, I'm telling you, it's all about the heart. And I say it's all about the heart because I say it's all about love. We think with our heart, and we see with our heart. Because what we see is what we be. What we behold is what we become. What we magnify is what will manifest. And, according to Jesus, a pure heart is what allows us to see God. Now watch this, because for today I want us to see WHERE we can see God. Philip asked Jesus to show him the Father. Jesus said, "...he that hath seen me hath seen the Father..." (John 14:9). So Phillip had seen Him, but hadn't SEEN Him. And look at what those two key words in our verse in Matthew mean: "Pure" is number 2513 in Strong's Greek Concordance and it means, "Clean, clear, pure." This longing for a cleansing goes all the way back to Psalm 51:10, "Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me." And this longing for a cleansing was fulfilled on the cross when Jesus shed His blood for us and gave us a blood bath. He created a clean (or pure) heart in us by cutting the flesh (or human effort, or surface stuff) away from our hearts and revealing the Father's heart beating with love in our chests! Ok. Now the word "see," of the phrase, "shall see." It is number 3700 in Strong's Greek Concordance and it means, "to gaze (that is, with wide open eyes, as at something remarkable)." Again, people saw Jesus but they didn't SEE Him. They didn't know what they were looking at because they were looking with carnal eyes (an unregenerated spirit, or a hard heart). Isaiah 6:9-10 says it like this, "And he said, Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not. Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed." Let me say it like this: We have an unction from the Holy Spirit and we know all things (1 John 2:20). But we don't understand everything we know. That's why the Holy Spirit leads and guides us into all truth. We HAVE all truth, but we don't UNDERSTAND everything we have. If we look for Him (with that pure, clean heart that beats with love), we can see Him everywhere. When Jesus walked the earth He literally stood in the midst of His chosen people and they didn't see Him. Now He doesn't live in just one human body, He lives in ALL human bodies. We are ALL His body! So when we understand that truth... when we look with our heart and not with our eyes... that's when we will see God. In ourselves, and in each other. In all of creation. In everything and everybody. All the time. And, to me, that's what it means to be blessed. To live in that constant consciousness of God. That constant consciousness of LOVE. Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see love!

I started this Rant series with the idea of "love without ownership." And as far as that goes... we don't "own" each other, but we do BELONG to each other. We are all parts of the same body. We are connected by the one thing in the universe that can truly connect things (or people): Love. Love is the glue that holds everything together. Everything was created by love, and everything is sustained by love. And, in a sense, everything is controlled by love. We just don't recognize this truth all of the time, and because we don't recognize love's guiding hand, we try to go our own way. "There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death" (Proverbs 14:12). When we go our own way, when we look for love in all the wrong places, we end up eating from the wrong tree--the tree of knowledge of good and evil. The tree of death. We think morality, or good vs evil, controls us. But it doesn't. That's surface stuff. That's not the deep stuff. Not the real stuff. The deep stuff, the real stuff, is the other tree--the Tree of Life. There's a way that SEEMS right... and then there's THE Way, THE Truth, and THE Life! The way that SEEMS right is, "I love you so I own you. I control you. I can change you because you're not good enough as you are." The Way that IS right is, "I love you just the way you are, so let me show you how you REALLY are. Let me shine the light of revelation in your heart and show you the hidden man of the heart. The true you." And that's the difference between our idea of ownership--control--and God's idea of ownership--protection. Jesus bought us with a price. We're not our own. We're His. And He won't give His glory to another, but He DID give His glory to us. BECAUSE we're His. And that glory is what "makes us" (reveals to us that we are) one with Him. The way love controls us is not from the outside in. Not by forcing us to do things. The way love controls us is from the inside out. By filling us to overflowing with the fulness of what we are full of! The love inside of us--revealed to us through the Holy Spirit (our love receptor)--comes out naturally. We are moved with compassion and motivated by love. That's the "control." Not, "Do it or else," but, "I have something that's too good to keep to myself." Because what I have isn't really MINE to begin with. I'm a steward of what my Father has trusted me with. I'm not to horde it up... I'm to share it. And by sharing it, multiply it. That's how the ever expanding Kingdom of God expands! I know and believe that I have everything that pertains to life and godliness... and I share what I have with whoever I come into contact with. I'm not just connected to you, but I'm a joint of supply. And so are you. We have what each other needs. And by sharing it we love without ownership. We love without expectation. We love... for love's sake. Love doesn't need a motivation. Love IS the motivation. It owns us and controls us and leads us and guides us and protects us!

I have to give credit to my pastor for this one: Ownership is about belonging to the One who bought us with a high price. We are His and He is ours. Which is important because God declares, "I am the LORD: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another..." (Isaiah 42:8). Again: We are not "another." We are His. We are--with the understanding of the finished work and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit--HIM. He is our true identity. Jesus said it lime this, "And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one" (John 17:22). See, this gift of glory--the glory that God would NOT give to another--does not MAKE us His... it was given because we ARE His. And this glory is what we see when we look in the mirror with an unveiled face. And as we behold that glory we are changed into that same image FROM glory TO glory. Not a change from crap to glory... not a change from an "evil" person to a "good" person... but a "change" into what we really are as we mature in the knowledge of who we really are (who HE really is in us). We think of ownership as control. "I love you and that means I own you. I control you." But love doesn't give us control... love controls us! He didn't give us His glory in order to MAKE us His. We have always been His. And that's why He gave us His glory. Because we ARE His. And the ransom He paid for us... the bondage that we were under... we were dead in our trespasses and sins. He gave His life for us and He gave His life to us. So that we might KNOW we were His. So that we could stop believing the lie. Jesus saved us from our sin (of unbelief) by giving us something to believe in. By giving us LOVE to believe in. By giving us His glory--His light, His life--so that we might be one with Him. Not Jesus AND me... Jesus AS me. Not Jesus forcing me to do things I don't want to do, but Jesus filling me to overflowing with Himself (with love) so that I can do the things (love) that I REALLY want to do! That's what I believe it means when we say, "The love of Christ controls us." Not, "You have to love or else, because I'm your owner and you better do what I say," but, "Everything we do flows from who we are. And who we are... is Jesus. God in the flesh. Love in a body. Who we are... IS love!" So when we understand that God's not out to get us, and when we understand that the Father judgeth no man, then we can stop fearing Him and start enjoying Him. We can stop running FROM Him and start running TO Him. It's about connection, and unity, and acceptance, and belonging. It's about our Daddy loving us because that's what a Father does--He loves His Son(s) no matter what. Not because of what we do, but because of who we are. We are HIS. He is OURS. We are one.

I think the difference between how WE think of ownership and how GOD thinks of ownership really comes down to "control" vs "protection." We think, "I love you and that means I own you... I control you." God thinks, "I love you. And that means you're mine... I take care of you." Look at Jesus' heart in Matthew 23:37 (NLT), "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones God's messengers! How often I have wanted to gather your children together as a hen protects her chicks beneath her wings, but you wouldn't let me." A mother hen and her chicks. A heavenly Father and His beloved Son in whom He is well pleased. I'm telling you, if we would stop trying to squash the differences that make us... US and started celebrating them instead we would find the righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost that IS the Kingdom of God! If we stopped trying to tell people what to DO and started telling people WHO THEY ARE then we could love without ownership. We could let CHRIST'S love control us--lead, and guide, and protect us--instead of trying to control each other. Because whatever you try to squash you really empower. It's like... when you need to go to the bathroom. And you focus on NOT needing to go to the bathroom. It doesn't take very long until ALL you need to do is go to the bathroom! Because by focusing on it--even if you're focus is on not doing it--you've empowered it. That's why preaching the Law, preaching sin, doesn't work. The Apostle Paul said it like this, "For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died" (Romans 7:9). When you preach sin... you get sin. Whatever you magnify is what will manifest. But in the same manner, when you preach LIFE... you get life! When you preach Christ... you get Christ. When you tell people who they are instead of telling them what to do... when you release the reins of "ownership"--that you don't REALLY hold in the first place--and you tell people the Good News of the Gospel... that's where the Spirit of the Lord is. And where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. Freedom. Not freedom TO sin, but freedom FROM sin. Jesus came to save us from our sins. He came to save us from unbelief. From the lie that says God is an angry taskmaster and you are His unwilling slave. The lie that says you have to DO in order to BE. Jesus did it all. You don't have to DO anything to be like God. You're already like Him. Always have been, always will be. You were made in His image. That was never the problem. The problem was what you see is what you be. And before the cross it was dark. We couldn't see God clearly which means we couldn't see ourselves clearly. So at the appointed time, on the cross, the light of the world shined. Jesus came and He showed us the Father. He showed us what love really is. WHO love really is! He showed us that while the Law of Moses tries to own you, or control you, the Law was never given so that we might follow it in the first place. The Law was given to show us that we CAN'T follow it. It was given to show us that behavior modification doesn't work. It was given as a school master to bring us to Christ. And once we get past the Law--past good and evil--and get to Christ--the Tree of Life--that's when we begin to understand what ownership is really all about. We begin to understand that we were bought with a price and we are not our own. Our owner--our Creator--is not an angry taskmaster at all. He's not sitting on a cloud with a lightning bolt waiting to get us every time we mess up. He's a Father who wants to hide us under His wings and take care of us. Why? Because we're His. And we're really going to look at what it means to BE His tomorrow.

Man... we really don't seem to understand love at all sometimes. We seem to think, "I love you, and that means I control you. I own you." When, in truth, the exact opposite is true. Christ's love controls us! We don't own love, love owns us! Look at 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 in the NLT, "Don't you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you wiht a high price. So you must honor God with your body." If I'm not MY owner, how could I be anybody elses? And that's the key to "love without ownership." Understanding who owns ME (the God who IS love, and the God who is my heavenly Father) and understanding that I don't own anybody (or anything). We are stewards, but we are not owners. 1 Timothy 6:7 puts it like this, "For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out." See, we're so afraid to lose what we've got--what we THINK we've got--that we miss out on what's available to us. We hang on to the scraps and we miss out on the abundance. We try to keep our lives, and end up losing them. To paraphrase Princess Leia from Star Wars, the more you tighten your grip, the more it slips through your fingers. I'm telling you, love isn't about control. It's about freedom. It's about liberty. It's not about loving someone so much that you want to change them... it's about loving someone so much that you don't NEED to change them. We can't change people. We couldn't even change ourselves. That's why Jesus came, at the appointed time of the cross, and did the work we couldn't do. We thought that following the Law of Moses would allow us to "be like Jesus." When the truth is, we were already like Him. On the cross, Jesus showed us who He really us--showed us who GOD really is--and showed us who WE really are. He CONFORMED us to His image. We were already made in His image, but we didn't know what the image was. Not until Jesus--the light of the world--shined in our hearts and revealed the truth to us. And what He revealed to us... is that we belong to Him. We're His. I am my beloved's, and my beloved is mine. We don't own love, and we don't use love to own each other. Love owns us. We were bought with a price and we are not our own. We belong to Him. And when we understand that glorious truth, we can love without ownership. Without expectation. Without needing anything from those we are loving. Because when we know who we belong to--when we know that we ARE loved with an eternal, unconditional, unstoppable, never ending love--then we know that we have everything we need. And when we know that we have everything we need (in that stewardship role), we can be good stewards and we can share what we have!

I saw a quote the other day, "Love without ownership." And it sent me spinning (right round, like a record player). Because I think about love a lot. I'm kind of obsessed with it. And if not having ownership is an aspect of love, then I think it's important. And I mean, I get what they were trying to say... we don't own each other. Not in the sense that we can control each other. We can't use love to get someone to do something. We can't use love to get... anything really. We don't love in order to get. We love because we have. So I get that. "If you love someone, set them free." And the truth of the matter is, they're free whether you love them or not. If you try to control them, or "own" them, then you'll just find out exactly how free they really are. But then I was thinking of Song of Solomon chapter six verse three, "I am my beloved's, and my beloved is mine..." And I was thinking about 2 Corinthians 5:14 in the English Standard Version of the Bible, "For the love of Christ controls us..." So it seems that there ARE aspects of ownership when it comes to love. I told someone the other day that it is a very rare and beautiful thing when you pick someone to be "yours" AND they pick you back. Because it usually seems like one person is doing the picking and the other person is doing some settling. It seems as though we'd rather be with SOMEONE--even the WRONG someone--than be alone. And I think that's why so many relationships are so messed up. We act like we own the person, when really we don't even like them. And I think that's the aspect we need to have of "love without ownership." Love without expectation. Loving people simply because we are filled to overflowing WITH love, and we couldn't stop it from coming out even if we tried. That's a pure level of love. Agape love, if you will. But even as we love without ownership, I think it's important to understand that love... owns us! We are God's beloved Son in whom He is well pleased. And He is our beloved. I am my beloved's and my beloved is mine. There's a mutal ownership, if I can say it that way. Not, "I own you and you're my slave," (even though the Apostle Paul DID refer to himself as the prisoner, or the slave, of Christ), but, "We own each other." It's the idea put forth in Genesis 2:24, "Therefore shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh." It's the joining together that love is famous for. Love unites us. Love is the glue that holds everything together. I don't own you, and you don't own me, but in a sense we own each other. I don't control love. Love is what it is--is WHO He is--and does what He does. But love DOES control me. Love owns me. Love leads me and guides me. Love protects me. Love strengthens me. I guess it's a different view of ownership. Not a slave and a master... but a Father and Son. A Lamb and His wife. And, as always, love is what makes all the difference. Because if I know my beloved loves me (and it kind of comes with the territory of Him BEING my beloved) then I know that I am His and He is mine. I'm CHOOSING to join to Him as one flesh. I'm CHOOSING to be owned. And it's the best choice I could ever make!

What if we never questioned whether or not God loved us and accepted us? What if we didn't judge His love for us according to our actions? What if we simply knew and believed that we ARE loved and accepted? That would almost make us believers, wouldn't it? And that would really free us up to live, wouldn't it? It would almost give truth to 2 Corinthians 3:17, "...where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty." If you have to work to be accepted, then it's not really acceptance. Acceptance, like love, is unconditional. It's, "I love you just the way you are. I accept you for the person that you are." And with this freedom--this liberty--from jumping through hoops and trying to be someone you're not... that's when you can really be who you ARE. I'm telling you, God created you to be YOU. He didn't create you so you could try (and fail) to be like someone else. Even the Law of Moses--which we still for some reason use as the standard of what a "good Christian" is--wasn't given so that we might keep it and earn acceptance. The Law of Moses was given to show us that we CAN'T keep it. It was given as a schoolmaster to bring us to Christ. To bring us to the end of ourselves. To help us repent of dead works and stop trying to finish a work that is already finished. Now watch this: I don't believe there was ever a time when God DIDN'T accept us. That was never the problem. The problem, as Colossians 1:21 puts it was that we were alienated and enemies in OUR MINDS because of our wicked works. It was never that God didn't accept us. It was that we didn't accept ourselves, and didn't believe He COULD accept us. But that verse goes on to say that we have been reconciled. WE hid from the presence of God. WE ran away from Him. And yet He hung on the cross with arms open wide and welcomed us back to Himself. He accepted us even when we were sinners (unbelievers). He accepted us even when we were dead set on doing it ourselves. He did it because we couldn't do it. He reconciled us to Himself because, despite our best efforts (or, really, BECAUSE of them) we were running in the wrong direction. He said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you. You think you're my enemy, but really you are my beloved. You can run, but just as soon as you get tired, you can turn around and you'll see that I'm right here with you. Always with you. Not just when you're "good," but ALWAYS." And when we know and believe that truth--when we let the Holy Spirit inside of us lead and guide us into all truth--then we can stop trying to get something we don't have. We can stop trying to earn something that has already been freely given. We can stop trying and start resting. We can receive it and release it. We can share it and enjoy it. When we know that we ARE accepted, we can accept each other. No matter where someone else is in their journey, we can accept them because we know Jesus already finished the race. God isn't worried about it, so you don't need to be worried about it either. People will get there when they get there. It's not your job to force them into your belief system. It's your job to love them. And you can only do that when you know that you ARE loved. Because you can't give what you don't have. What if we never questioned whether God loved us and accepted us? Then we would love and accept each other!

Unconditional love and acceptance--not because of what we do, but because of who we are. That's what everybody wants. We don't want condemnation and judgment. We don't want to jump through hoops in order to be loved and accepted. And we don't want to have to change. Because if we have to change, that means we aren't good enough right now. And, really, that's the Gospel. The Good News. It occured to me (in a living way) the other day that Jesus did NOT tell His disciples to preach the Bible. He told them to preach the Gospel. And the Gospel is this, "Jesus gave His life for you on the cross, and He gave His life to you when He poured out His Spirit on all flesh." The Good News is that Daddy loves you and He always has and He always will. The Good News is that now, through the Holy Spirit, we can receive and release that love. We don't have to try to earn what is freely given. We can stop looking at ourselves, and each other, as "bad" people who need to change into "good" people. Jesus did NOT come to make bad people good. He came to make dead people alive. We WERE dead in our trespasses and sins (unbelief). Jesus saved us from our sins by giving us something (someONE, Himself, love) to believe in. Now watch this: Psalm 37:4 says, "Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart." When we know what the desires of our heart is... to be loved and accepted... we can see that delighting ourselves in the Lord is the fulness of those desires! He loves and accepts us. He doesn't want to change us, He wants us to see the change that took place 2,000 years ago on the cross. He wants us to see HIM as He truly is--not an angry taskmaster, but a loving heavenly Father--and He wants us to see OURSELVES as we truly are--His beloved Son in whom He is well pleased. The desires of our heart are found in Him. So when we delight ourselves in Him, when we let Him love us (again, through the Holy Spirit, our love receptor), that's when we find what we have been looking for. We are dead, and our lives are hid with Christ in God. So if we want to find ourselves, we have to look to Him. As He is, so are we in this world. He is our true identity. We are accepted IN THE BELOVED. "I am my beloved's, and my beloved is mine..." (Song of Solomon 6:3). We are His and He is ours. In Him we live and move and have our being. In us He lives and moves and has His being. God is love. In LOVE we live and move and have our being. In us LOVE lives and moves and has His being! We are loved, and because of that we are LOVE. Because of that we CAN love. We are forgiven... we can forgive. We are accepted... we can accept. A huge part of my minstry goes like this, "Don't tell people what to do, because people are going to do what they want to do. Tell people who they are, because what they do flows from their identity!" Jesus broke the yoke that religion had saddled us with, and He offered us His yoke, which is easy and light. Easy and light because HE is the one carrying it (carrying us!). He finished the work. He did it all so we could get it all. He accepts us... so we can accept each other!

We know that we are accepted in the beloved--in Jesus. We know that because we are accepted there is no condemnation. And that includes--first and foremost--self-condemnation. But here's the question: What IS acceptance? And to me, as simply as I can make it, if you accept someone you aren't trying to change them. At all. Revelation 22:11 says it like this, "He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still." We have to let people be who they are! Trying to change someone will never work. Behavior modification may seem to have some limited success at the beginning, but at the end of the day you are who you are. Change doesn't come from the outside. It comes from the inside. It comes from the finished work of the cross. "Change" comes from understanding the change that took place 2,000 years ago. And while we are figuring out this change--the life-long journey into the heart of the matter, which is the heart--we need to let people figure it out! It's funny to me that sin conscious preachers like to attack the very things that they are dealing with. See, we want people to be like us, but better versions of us. We don't want to struggle with things, so if we see someone else struggling with the same things we want them to change! We can't, so they better! That's not acceptance. Even if you justify it by saying, "I want something better for you," that's not accepting them. We attack differences instead of celebrating them. Each and every one of us is fearfully and wonderfully made. Each one of us is unique. Each one of us has a purpose and a role. If I force you to change, and be like me, then who is going to do what you're supposed to do? And this idea of acceptance REALLY applies to relationships. Because it's easy for me to let you be who you are if it really doesn't effect me. But when you're in a relationship--especially a "romantic relationship"--EVERYTHING you do affects the other person. That's what it means to be one flesh. No more "me," but "we." If you're constantly trying to change your signifigant other... that's a pretty clear sign that they aren't right for you. In the same manner, if God was constantly trying to change us... that would mean, in a sense, that there's something wrong with us. And there's not. God made man and declared us to be very good. He didn't make a mistake, and He didn't make crap. When you look in the mirror with an unveiled face and see the glory of the Lord you are changed into that same image from GLORY to glory. Not from crap to glory. The "change" isn't really a change at all. It's a conformation. It's a maturation process into what we already are as we learn what we already are. BE transformed, into what you've already been transformed into. Not GET transformed. Accept the fact that you've already been "changed" or transformed, and accept the fact that it's only by revelation that the change that already took place INSIDE will come OUT. Accept others for who they are and stop trying to change them into something they're not. Meet people where they're at and love them where they're at. That displays the "change" in you and shows others the "change" in them!

You can't give what you don't have. That's why Jesus finished the work. He did it all so we could get it all. And now we have it all, so we can do it all. We forgive because we are forgiven. We love because we are loved. We accept... because we are accepted. But I'm really convinced that the first thing (or person) we need to accept... is ourselves. I'm so sick of this idea that we're not good enough. When God finished His creative work, way back in the beginning, He looked at everything (including man... including YOU) that He had made and He said it was very good. Mankind is not the scum of the earth that needs to change in order to be accepted. We ARE accepted in the beloved. HE--Jesus, the beloved Son of God--is accepted. And He's in us and we're in Him. So WE--the body of Christ--are accepted. That's a done deal. We don't need to do anything in order to earn acceptance. And thank God for that because there's nothing we can do TO earn that acceptance. We are accepted by God for the same reason my son, Logan, is accepted by me: Because we're His. Logan is mine. I accept him and love him unconditionally. That's what a father's love IS. So. Since we ARE accepted... we can accept. And, again, today I'm focusing on accepting ourselves. The harder you try to be someone you're not the more you fail to be anybody at all. God doesn't want you to be somebody you're not. He wants you to know, and accept, and BE who you are. That's why He sent His Son. Jesus came so that we might see and know the Father. So that we might see and know ourselves in the context of that Father/Son relationship. So that would stop trying to be somebody else. Stop trying to fit into a box that doesn't fit. Acceptance. Romans 8:1 (NLT) says it like this, "So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus." (And I just want to say I believe we ALL belong to Christ Jesus. When He was on the cross and He said, "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do," I believe He was praying for all of humanity. And I believe Father God heard, and answered, that prayer. Obviously we haven't all ACCEPTED Him, but that doesn't mean we don't belong to Him.) There's now no condemnation. Which includes self-condemnation. We have to give ourselves grace before we can give it to anyone else. We have to accept ourselves before we can accept anyone else. Because if I'm condemning myself, and trying to change myself, then I'm totally and completely self-centered. Self-focused. If I'm focused on me then I can't be focused on you. And you are where my focus needs to be. Not to condemn, but to help. I can't help someone else if all I'm doing is trying to help myself. And if I help you and you help me--if we focus on each other--then I don't need to worry about me and you don't need to worry about you. Then we can accept each other as different parts of the same body. Then we can work together. Then we can truly experience love... by receving it and releasing it!