You know the song, "I can't get no satisfaction." That's the cry of most of humanity's heart. We always seem to want what we can't have, or what we don't have. We spend all of our time, talent, and treasure trying to fill the hole inside of us. But let me just say it right off the bat: It's a God-shaped hole. A love-shaped hole. And it can only be filled by God. By love. And... in all reality it has already been filled. See, we spend so much time looking for love in all the wrong places that we miss out on the meaning of life. We are trying to GET love, when the truth is we ARE loved. That's why the Holy Spirit is so important. Jesus gave us His Spirit--the Comforter, the Spirit of truth--so that we might know what He knew. Let me show you what Jesus knew, and the role the Holy Spirit played in it: "And the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him, and a voice came from heaven, which said, Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased" (Luke 3:22). See, God is always speaking. And He only has one Word to say (Jesus, love). But without the Holy Spirit (our love receptor) we can't hear what the Spirit is speaking. The Spirit and the bride say come, but all we seem to hear God say is, "I'm angry, and you better run before I get you!" That's not God. And 2,000 years ago on the cross, God got us. Not in a bad way, but in the best way. He reconciled us to Himself. In the garden of Eden Adam and Eve sinned and then hid from the presence of God. They separated themselves from Him because they thought He was mad at them. They ran FROM God instead of running TO God. They didn't (couldn't) believe that they were already like God, so they swallowed the lie that said you have to DO in order to BE. And mankind has been trying to DO ever since. Trying to earn our bread by the sweat of our brow. Because we didn't know that we were God's Son(s) and that He loved us unconditionally and was already well pleased with us. We didn't know where to find the satisfaction we were craving. We tried to earn a gift, and you can't earn a gift. Look at what Jesus said in John 4:13-14, "Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life." The water that we can earn for ourselves, or draw for ourselves from the natural well, never satisfies. At most it's a stall. We drink... then get thirsty again and have to try to get some more water. But the water that Jesus GIVES quenches our thirst. The table that Jesus prepared for us in the midst of our enemies, the six-course meal of the Six Steps to the Throne (Crucified, Died, Buried, Quickened, Raised, Seated), satisfies our appetite. Because love is our appetite. Love is what everybody wants, at the end of the day. We want to be loved. And nothing else will satisfy. That's why a God-shaped hole must be (and was) filled by the God who IS love!

"What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?" (1 Corinthians 6:19). You are not your own. You belong to God. The Son belongs to the Father. But, as we are all one body--the body of Christ--we also belong to each other. Jesus said there was no greater love that a man could have than to lay down his life for his friends. That's the meaning of life. Giving your life to others. Esteeming others higher than yourself. But to the carnal mind this doesn't make a lick of sense. To the carnal mind it's all about earning your bread by the sweat of your brow. The carnal mind doesn't think it has anything, so (from this posture of lack) it spends all of it's time, talent, and treasure trying to get what it thinks it doesn't have. "More blessed to give than to receive," doesn't compute. And that's why I like to describe Adam as the walking dead. The day he ate of the tree of knowledge of good and evil... he died. Spiritually. He was alive, but he wasn't LIVING. Because he wasn't giving. He was trying to get. He didn't know God loved him (because He didn't have the Holy Spirit) and because he didn't know it, he couldn't believe it. And because he couldn't believe it (or receive it), he couldn't release it. If life is all about giving (because it's all about loving)... and you can't give what you don't have... then it's vitally important for us to have our focus in the right place. Don't focus on trying to give. If you're trying... you're destined to fail. Because it's not by might, or by power, but by the Spirit of God. Because with man it is impossible, but with God all things are possible. So instead of focusing on giving... focus on receiving. When you know and believe that you are loved... you love naturally out of that love. Then it's a life of rest rather than a life of works and labor. I know it seems counterintuitive, and I know that I've said many times that the way we truly receive is BY releasing... but our focus CAN'T be on what WE are doing. It HAS to be on what Jesus did (both for us and as us). It can't be on how much we love God. It has to be on how much He loves us. Because the way love flows is... it overflows. Look at Luke 6:45, "A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh." I'm not going to touch good men and evil men in THIS Rant, but suffice it to say: What's in your heart comes out. As a man thinketh in his heart so is he. God fills us to overflowing and then out of the ABUNDANCE of the heart comes... love. That's what abundant life is. So what's the meaning of life? I've been saying it and I'm going to keep saying. The meaning of life is to be loved by our heavenly Father and to love each other with that love. Receive it and release it. Love God by loving people. Live for others. Love others. 

This is where the rubber meets the road. If the meaning of life is love--and it is!--then life really isn't about you. Or rather, it isn't about what you can do for you. It's about others. It's about what you can do for others. True happiness comes from making others happy. It's not about outside coming in. It's not about "getting" anything. It's about inside coming out. It's about giving (sharing) what we've got. That's why it's so important to know what we've got. And what we've got... is everything. Jesus did it all so we could get it all. We have been blessed with all Spiritual blessings. We have been given all things that pertain to life and godliness. But we weren't blessed just so that we could be blessed. There IS an aspect of this. Proverbs 10:22 tells us, "The blessing of the LORD, it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it." There's this idea out there where Christians are supposed to be poor. But a poverty mentality doesn't exactly line up with the mentality of a Son who knows that His Father loves Him and has given all things into His hand. When Jesus told the rich young ruler to sell everything he had and give it to the poor, He wasn't making a sweeping statement of how we are all supposed to live. He was dealing with the rich young ruler's heart. Guys... it's ok to have stuff. The problem comes when stuff has you. That was the rich young ruler's problem. He was more interested in stuff then in helping people. We are blessed... to be a blessing. Genesis 12:2 says it like this, "And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing." You can't give what you don't have. So if you have this poverty mentality... if you're always coming from a place of lack... trying to get things instead of receiving what you've already been given... then you spend your life chasing it instead of enjoying it. To love is to give. To live is to love. To live is to give. Isn't it interesting that Jesus spoke of losing your life in order to gain it? To lay down your life for your friends? That's what life is really all about. It's not about selfishness. It's about selflessness. It's not about taking, or getting, it's about giving. It's not about you, it's about others. But here's the really glorious part: When you give... that's when you receive! When you share something with someone, that's when it becomes real. Life becomes real life when it's shared. You truly receive love when you release it. Happiness doesn't come from what you get. It comes from what you give. God gave us everything we could ever need when (out of His love for us) He gave us His Son--transformed us into His Son--now we have it all. We have no lack because our God has not lack. Love never fails. So if you want to really understand the meaning of life you have to stop trying to get and you have to start giving what you've got!

Expectations. They screw us up every time. Because life is messy. It doesn't go as planned. In fact, (I don't necessarily believe this but...) I've heard it said that if you want to hear God laugh, tell Him your plans. Now the Bible says, "In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths" (Proverbs 3:6). And I guess, really, that's the difference. If you try to do it yourself, if you try to live out of your own power--even if (ESPECIALLY if) you try to live Jesus' life out of your own power--then you will fail. With man it is impossible. But with God all things are possible. See, life isn't about working FOR God. We saw this yesterday. The Son lives BY the Father. He walks hand in hand with Daddy, only doing what He sees Daddy do and only saying what He hears Daddy say. He's the glorious truth about that though: It's not, "I saw Daddy do it now I have to do it." It's, "I saw Daddy do it IN me and now it naturally comes OUT of me!" When God talks He does it with our mouths. We are the address of the omnipresent God. Where you go... there you are. And wherever you go... there HE is. Because He lives in you. So, again, the meaning of life is not to try to be somebody else. It's not trying to fit your life into whatever box you think it's "supposed" to fit into. I think, "supposed to" is one of our greatest enemies. Because when you're trying to make, "supposed to" happen you're missing out on what is actually happening. When you're trying to earn a gift--which is impossible to do--then you're robbing yourself from experiencing and enjoying the gift that has already been given. Stop trying to earn your bread by the sweat of your brow and just sit down (rest) and eat the meal that Jesus prepared for you! Jesus said it's by eating and drinking Him that we have His life. When we totally identify with Him--rather than trying to follow in His foot steps, we understand that He is making His foot steps in our feet--we live His life by letting Him live it in and through and as us. Or, as 2 Peter 1:2-4 puts it, "Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord, According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knoweldge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and preceious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust." The meaning of life... is knowing the Father in the context of the Son. Knowing that we have it all because we have Him. Knowing that Daddy loves us. And in knowing... believing. And in believing... living. We have all these ideas about what we're supposed to do. But those expectations screw us up. Because it's not about DOING. It's about BEING. What we do flows from who we be. And who we be is loved. Who we be... is love! When you know that you are loved... that you are LOVE... then everything you DO flows from love. That's what life is. To live is to love. To love is to live. It's all about love.

The meaning of life is to live. And not only live, but live abundantly. Live Jesus' life by letting Him live His life in and through and as you. But sometimes in order to understand what something IS it's important to understand what it's NOT. The meaning of life is NOT to follow a list of does and don't and never make a mistake. Life is full of mistakes, because life is full of people. And people make mistakes. We don't always do the right thing. Sometimes, in spite of ourselves, we let outside forces dictate to us. Even though we know the Kingdom economy is not outside-in, but inside-out. Or, we let fear of failure, fear of making a mistake, keep us from living at all. And to me that might be the worst kind of hell--to be alive, but to be afraid of living. That's almost what Adam was when he ate from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Because on that day... he died. Not in the natural, but in the Spirit. He was alive, but he was--in a sense--cut of from the Tree of Life. Thankfully, that's not the end of the story. Because at the appointed time God sent His only begotten Son and reconnected us to the source. He became who we were, and died, so that we--who were already dead in our trespasses and sins--could die. And with that second death we were given a new birth. We were brought out of bondage and into the Promised Land of rest. Out of religion--that external Law that tried to control our behavior--and into relationship--where we do what we do not out of fear of punishment, but where we do what we do out of love. That's what life is all about: Being loved by our heavenly Father and loving each other with that same love. Jesus said it like this, "As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me" (John 6:57). I love that phrase, and that glorious truth. "I love by the Father." BY the Father. Not FOR the Father. See, we always think we need to do things for God. As if He's a demanding taskmaster. But really everything we do we do BY the Father. In Him we live and move and have our being. In us He lives and moves and has His being. If it's anything it's a partnership. Co-heirs. Co-labourers. Not God telling us what to do and we have to do it or else. That's not what "being led by the Spirit means." Because the Spirit doesn't demand. He empowers. He leads and guides us into all truth. Being led by the Spirit means knowing and believing what the Spirit is speaking. And what the Spirit is speaking--the Word of God--is Jesus. Is love. Our true identity. We live an abundant life--again, by letting Jesus live HIS life in and through and as us--when we stop living like servants (or slaves) and start living like Son(s). When we stop TRYING (with works and labor) to please a God who is already well pleased with us. When we stop trying to live and start to receive the gift of eternal, everlasting, abundant, Resurrection Life that we have already been given. Receive it... and release it. That's the meaning of life!

"The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly" (John 10:10). I think about life a lot. Always have. For a long time my favorite song--well, maybe not "favorite" but the song I was obsessed with--was "What's This Life For?" And I think that's a questing that everyone asks. I think that's one of the reasons we're here: to find out why we're here. But the probelm with that song is that it asked the question without providing the answer. And, listen, I know that each of us will find the answer to that question in our own ways. It's all the same answer, but it's different for everybody. Because the answer is: This life is to be lived. To live is to love and to love is to live. This life is about love, plain and simple. Unfortunately, that's where so many of us get into so much trouble. We spend all of our time, treasure, and talent looking for love in all the wrong places. And by doing so we steal, kill, and destroy. The thief Jesus was talking about in John chapter 10 isn't the devil. It's someone who tries to get into the sheepfold--or the promised land of rest--any way except through the door that Jesus is. Let me say it like this: Eternal life is the gift of God. So if you're trying to earn a gift then you're robbing yourself. Because a gift can't be earned. It can only be received. And since the Holy Spirit is our love receptor, we begin to understand what Jesus meant when He said, "...I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me" (John 14:6). He was talking about relationship. Which is what eternal life is. Jesus said, "And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent" (John 17:3). The gift of God is knowing God as Father in the context of knowing ourselves as His beloved Son in whom He is well pleased. Jesus said no man cometh unto the FATHER but by Him. You can't know God as Daddy until you know yourself as His Son. And, just as you can't earn a gift, you can't earn Sonship. You have to be born into it. Born from above. The new birth that occured when Jesus drew all men into Himself, died, and then rose again. A new creation in Christ filled with the Holy Spirit that can finally receive God's love (instead of trying to earn it). When you try to earn God's love you rob yourself of it. Because He always has loved you and He always will love you. God loving you has never been in question. You knowing and believing that God loves you is another matter. And that's why Jesus came. He came that we might have life, and have it more abundantly. He came that we might KNOW that Father (and His love for us). He came to pass us out of death and into life by equipping and empowering us to receive and release God's love. What's this life for? It's for love. To receive the love of the Father and to love one another with that same love!

I really think we get in our own way most of the time. I really think our "worst enemy" is right between our ears. (Which is, of course, why God gave us the mind of Christ.) I think we put too much pressure on things and always want to make things fit into boxes. We have an "us and them" mentality, and a "snapshot mentality." We do just enough to stay out of trouble (which basically describes the Old Covenant) and then we complain about never being able to get ahead in life. I think about "success" kind of a lot. Especially as a pastor. And I'll tell you right now, if I defined success by nickels and noses then I'd have to consider myself a gigantic failure. But to me it's not about having a big platform. And I understand that the more people you reach, the more people you can help. I'm not against that. But I think it's important to, as Jesus put it, "Go out and train everyone you meet, far and near, in this way of life, marking them by baptism in the threefold name: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit" (Matthew 28:16 Message Bible). Most other translations say, "make disciples." And to me what this means is joining together with people. Teaching them. Learning and growing with them. Connecting with them. Having relationship with them. That's how this "Christianity" thing really works. It isn't just about getting to heaven someday. It's about experiencing heaven right now. It's not about doing the least you can do, it's about having an abundant life. And an abundant life is a life that is full of love. You can't love unless you have someone TO love. Beause love is a verb (an action word) not a noun (a person, place, or thing)--even though really love IS a person, and His name is Jesus. His name is you. But I digress. What I'm trying to say is that it's not good for man to be alone. We can't love God without loving people. We love God BY loving people. And we love people--not by condemning them, not by attacking them and demanding them to change--by meeting them where they're at and making our strength perfect in their weakness by helping them. When somebody's down he doesn't need to be kicked. He needs to be helped up. Let me say it another way, "If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, and one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit?" (James 2:15-16). The least we can do if someone is hungry... is feed them. And oftentimes the least we can do... is exactly what someone needs. Whatever we do to the least of them we do unto the Lord. So what's it all about? Love. Love flowing into us (from the Father) and out of us (into each other). That's abundant life. A life of being loved and loving each other with that same love. It doesn't have to seem huge, because if it's love it never fails. And that IS huge. It's the biggest, most powerful thing in the universe. It's not the least. It's the most!

Sometimes the least you can do is the most that you need to do. Let me explain. We seem to have this idea where--espeically as "Christians"--we think we're supposed to change the world. And, make no mistake, we ARE. "For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God" (Romans 8:19). All of creation is waiting for the manifestation of our true identity. All of creation is waiting for the God in us to come out of us and through us. But guess what: there are ways to change the world that don't involve being famous or having an enormous platform. If you do something for someone... if you give instead of take... if you love because of what you have instead of loving in order to get... then you just changed that person's world. I find more and more that the old adage, "sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me," is completely and totally false. Words do hurt. What you say matters. Because, "Where the word of a king is, there is power..." (Ecclesiastes 8:4). And, "For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned" (Matthew 12:36). I preached a lot of this not too long ago in the Judgment Day series, but what I took from Jesus' words about justification and condemnation is this: What we speak is what manifests. If we speak life... life manifests. If we speak condemnation... condemnation manifests. Because our words have power. The smallest amount of encouragement goes such a long way. But on the flip side, a word of discouragement can do just as much damage. And for whatever reason, it seems like it's easier to tear people down. Like we think if we make someone look bad we'll look better by comparision. That doesn't work though. I don't think attacking anybody has ever or will ever get them to change. It's the GOODNESS of God that leads men to repentance. Kicking someone when they're down doesn't do any good. But helping someone up...? That's a horse of a different color. When we put ourselves in other people's shoes I'm convinced that what we will find is that we all have similar feet. We're all just people trying our best to do what we can with what we've got. When Jesus talked about "the least of them" He wasn't talking about saving them from hell, or any "grand idea" like that. He was talking about someone being hungry and having that basic human need met. You don't always have to "change the world." You can simply touch those who are in your path. You can simply do whatever you can do for those that you're in contact with. God put you where you are for a reason. But sometimes we're so busy looking ahead (or behind) that we don't see where we are right now. We miss out on changing someone's world because we don't think it's big enough. Can I say it like this? God doesn't sweat the little stuff, or the big stuff. Because to Him it's ALL little stuff. There's nothing to big or to small for Him. There's nobody "beneath His notice." So maybe we ought to start noticing one another...

Writing a Rant about the least is really writing a Rant about abundance. But, as always, it's all about your perception. It's all about how you see things. And how you see things is directly effected by how you look at things. The Bible tells us that Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Which to me means that He was looking God straight in the face. He was looking at Jesus. He had his affections on things above, and not on things of the earth. He was walking by faith, and not by sight. He didn't see lack. Even when a rain (which was something of the imagination, because at that point it had never rained on the earth... there was no such thing as rain) was coming to flood the earth, because of where Noah was looking he didn't see destruction. He saw salvation. He saw the Ark. Because he found grace in God's eyes, he was able to see things as they really were. That's what I was trying--in my own "wandering around and hoping I make a point," way--to say yesterday. When we see people as they really are, we won't consider anybody to be "less than." Because we'll see Jesus in everybody. We'll see that we are all parts of the same body and we are all connected. What we do to each other we really do to ourselves. What we do to "the least of them" we do unto the Lord. We always seem to see this separation: God is over HERE, and man is over HERE. Especially when it comes to unbelievers. Because--we think--while a believer might be close to God, and unbeliever is far far away. But when Paul was talking to a group of unbelievers at Athens he said, "For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring" (Acts 17:28). Believers AND unbelievers. In Him WE live, and move, and have our being. WE are His offspring. The only difference between a believer and an unbeliever is that a believer has heard the good news and mixed it with faith. I'm trying to say we're all the same. We're all in this together. And when we stop thinking about things in terms of "good and evil," in terms of "least and greatest," in terms of "us and them," and we start to see that, "Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision, uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all" (Colossians 3:11). That's when the idea of "least" goes out the window. That's when the truth of abundance springs forth. Listen: There are some things that I'm good at and something I'm not. And the same of true of you. But Jesus told Paul that His strength is made perfect in weakness. And here's how: If I can help you do something that you couldn't do on your own... strength just got perfected. When we help each other--when we LOVE each other--no matter what and no matter how and no matter who, that's what it's all about. That's even what Jesus' parable was about: Feeding someone who is hungry. Giving water to someone who is thirsty. Meeting people where they are (in their lack, or their need) and showing them a more excellent way. Sometimes the smallest (LEAST significant seeming) thing can make ALL the difference!

"And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me" (Matthew 25:40). This is one of my favorite truths out of all the parables that Jesus taught. Whatever we do to the least... we do unto the Lord. There is absolutely no separation between us and God. And, really, how could there be? He lives in us. This is the same truth that Jesus gave to Paul (then Saul) in Acts 9:4-5. Paul was persecuting Christians... "And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks." You mess with God's people and you're messing with God Himself. And just to clarify, I believe we are ALL God's people. Some of us know it and some of us don't. That's the only difference. And, really, that's what Jesus was saying in Matthew chapter 25. Whatever we do to the LEAST we do unto Him. That word, "least," is number 1646 in Strong's Greek Concordance and it means, "least (in size, amount, dignity, etc.): - least, very little (small), smallest." Whatever you do to the most insignificant person you know... you do unto the Lord. Now let me stop right here for a second. Because I understand the idea that some lives are bigger than others. Some people have more impact than others. Presidents, for example, have a pretty big impact. But having said that... I don't believe anyone is insignificant. I believe we were all fearfully and wonderfully made. We all have a purpose--and as simply as I can put it that purpose is to be loved and to love one another with that love--and we can all reach different people in different ways. But I think the point here is that true love is about giving and not getting. It's about giving to someone who you know you can't get anything from. Let me say it like this, "But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8). See, God didn't die for us because of what you could get FROM us. We were sinners. We were running from Him because we thought He was mad at us. We didn't have anything to give Him. He died for us because of what WE could get from HIM. And what His death did was it gave us a death. We were dead in our trespasses and sins. Then when Jesus died, we died. DEATH died. So that life (abundant, everlasting, eternal, Resurrection Life) could live. So that we could live in Him as He lives in and through and as us. What am I saying? That HUMANITY was the least of Jesus' brethren, and HE is the One who loved us. So in the same manner, we are now equipped and empowered to love each other in the same manner. Guys, we love God by loving each other. Whatever we do to the least... we do unto Him. If you want to love God you have to love people. Because that's HOW you love God. We have this misguided idea where we have to serve God, even if it's at the expense of people. But God didn't come to be served. He came to serve. He didn't come so that we could take care of Him. He came to take care of us. And He takes care of us when we take care of each other!