Let me drop my memory verse first so I can work on it for a little bit. Matthew 5:20, "For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteouesness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven." On the surface, like a lot of stuff Jesus said (because that is Jesus talking, by the way, the red letters), it's easy to misinterpret this. Easy for people to take this verse and think that only by serious effort, works and labor, can we earn the kingdom. "We have to be even more righteous than the Pharisees!" But let's be real. The only people Jesus ever got mad at were the Pharisees. The religious folk. The self righteous. And that's the rub. In order for our righteousness to exceed the righteousness of the Pharisees... we need to understand the difference between self righteousness and the righteousness of God in Christ. Now to me it's pretty easy to see how one of those would exceed the other. One is those works and labor--works don't work--and the other is resting in the arms of our heavenly Father. One puts all of the emphasis on US and what WE are doing... and the other puts the emphasis where it belongs: On Jesus and the finished work of the cross. Jesus brought heaven to earth. Gave it to us. Put it without our reach. It's at hand. It's available. But here's the thing: in order to reach out and grab it... in order to enter into it... we have to understand that it is nothing about what we can do (except believe) and everything about (believing) what He has done! That's the good fight of faith. That's letting the mind of Christ (that's already in us) be in us! And since I use that idea of the mind of Christ already being in us a lot, I want to go ahead and quote those two memory verses here. 1 Corinthians 2:16, "For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ." And Philippians 2:5, "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus." We already have it. We just need to let it. We're already in heaven, we just to live it. Heaven is a state of mind. Where the Divine Order of things is fully revealed and is therefore in full effect. The days of heaven on earth are knowing, and believing, and operating in God's love for us. Receiving it and releasing it. Not trying to be self-righteous through our works, but letting HIS righteousness be OUR righteousness. Knowing and believing that HE finished the work, and therefore the work IS finished! See, Jesus finished the work so that we could enjoy the fruit of His labor. So that we could experience everything He has and everything He is. That's what this life is for. That's what this life is all about. That's the gift that we've been given. Heaven on earth. The abundant, everlasting, eternal, Resurrection Life of God--which is Jesus's life of love that HE lives in us, and through us, and as us. You don't have to wait until you die to go to heaven. A preacher once said it like this, "I don't just want to make heaven my home... I want to make my home like heaven!" So let me end tonight's Rant with this: Wherever you go, there you are. And wherever you are, there Jesus is. We're not just IN heaven... we ARE heaven. God's expression of love on this earth, in this time!

What God wants for us--what He HAS for us--He has already given to us. John 3:16, "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." And I know that's like THE Bible verse. But really think about that for a minute. His love for us was so great that He gave us the thing that was most precious to Him. When I read the story of Abraham and Isaac--especially in light of having a son of my own--I always wonder. Doesn't seem like something I'd necessarily be able to do. Which, I suppose, is why Abraham is known as the father of faith, right? He trusted God no matter what. And God didn't make Abraham give up his son. Because there was a ram (a male lamb) caught in the thicket ready to take Isaac's place. Jesus, in a sense, took our place. Drew us into Himself and did what needed to be done. For us. As us. And, for the record, it wasn't God who killed His only begotten Son. It was man who did that. Well... it was man's intention to do that anyway. Jesus sacrificed Himself. Gave up the ghost. Because, let's be real, nobody can kill God. That's silly. But because man needed that second death--our first death was in Adam when he ate the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil (the tree of death) and died--because man needed that second death... Jesus gave it to us. Look at Hebrews 9:27, "And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment." And add to that Revelation 2:11, "He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death." Jesus died for us and as us, so that it wouldn't hurt us. He overcame and that's why we are overcomers. And then the judgment. Not a death sentence but an eternal, everlasting, abundant, Resurrection Life (of love) sentence! So even if you're convinced that heaven is only available after you die... you've already died! You were crucified with Christ. And now you live. But not YOU... Him IN you. Him THROUGH you. Him AS you. Jesus IS heaven. And heaven lives in you. It's not just WHERE we are, it's WHO we are. Heaven isn't a piece of real estate. It's a state of mind. It's the mind of Christ. It's knowing how much your heavenly Father so loves you. Knowing that you are worth someone laying their life down for you. Knowing that there is nothing you can do that could ever seperate you from the love of God. Living in God's love... man... that's heaven. That's the only way to survive this life, and that's the only way to thrive in this life. To live is to love and to love is to live. You can't do one without the other and you can't have one without the other because they are not just connected... they are the same thing! Heaven on earth is God's love filling us to overflowing and coming out of us in this time and place. Wherever we are. Whatever we're doing. Whatsoever you do, do it heartily--to the best of your ability and because it's in your heart to do it. That's what God wants for us. And that's what He gave us when He gave us His Son. His Spirit. His life. His very own self. That's not what we need, that's what we have. That's who we are!

If heaven is available to us right now--the days of heaven on earth, the mind of Christ--then we don't need to wait for it, and we don't need to try to earn it. Look at Matthew 4:17, "From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." The Kingdom of heaven. The Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of love. It is at hand. It is within our reach. And all we have to do in order to grab it--to lay hold of the gift that we've already been given, which is the good fight of faith--is to repent. Which, unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately, depending on your point of view) doesn't mean what religious folk have made it out to mean. "Repent" in Matthew 4:17 is number 3340 in Strong's Greek Concordance and it means, "to think differently or afterwards, that is, reconsider (morally to feel compunction)." Basically, we've been trying to conform to this world. Because we thought that was our best choice. Or, really, our only option. What we need to do in order to reach out and grab the Kingdom--to experience the days of heaven on earth--is think again. And the reason we CAN do that is because of the cross. The cross happened, and now we can think differently. The light of the world shined, and now we can see how things really are. We don't have to just take what the world gives us. We don't have to accept any old thing. We have a better option. A more excellent way. Repentance is not begging an angry god for mercy so that we don't get burned up for eternity. Repentance is letting the mind of Christ (that is already in us) BE in us. Thinking differently in light of something. It was dark... until God said, "Let there be light." Now it's not dark anymore. Sin abounded... before the cross. That was when, and where, and how, grace did much more abound. We were sinners... until we were saved by grace. Jesus took away the sin of the world. And, according to 1 John 3:9, "Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God." Sin is not the issue. Jesus took away the sin of the world. Sin CONSCIOUSNESS is the issue. Thinking we're sinners when we're actually saints. We are the righteousness of God in Christ. As He is so are we in this world. And He is light. There is no darkness in Him at all. Which means there is no darkness in US at all. What we need is a shift in our mindsets in order to stop beating ourselves up over things from our past. What we need is put off the old man (that HE has already taken off of us) and put on the New Man (which HE has already put on us). What we need is to repent. To think differently in light of the cross. To see things for what they are now, instead of always thinking about what we have always thought they were. We've always thought about heaven as planet three miles south of Mars somewhere, right? But, in reality, heaven is inside of us. The Kingdom of love. It's in the heart. God's heart beating with love in our chests. The mind of Christ thinking the thoughts of God in our heads. Letting what's inside come out. By knowing and believing that it's in there. Living in heaven right now, and spreading it around wherever we are!

Wow. Kind of ambitious, huh? A five part Rant series to say what needs to be said about one of the biggest, deepest, widest topics in all of the world. Easy peasy, right? Come on. I'm just going to say a little bit about how I feel about "heaven" right now. Which, by the way, is the point. Because if we're looking at heaven only as a some day pie in the sky far away destination that we can have enjoy only if we're good enough to make the cut then we're missing out on what's available right now. Look at Deuteronomy 11:21, "That your days be multiplied, and the days of your children, in the land which the LORD sware unto your fathers to give them, as the days of heaven upon the earth." The days of heaven... UPON THE EARTH. Multiplied days... UPON THE EARTH. This life we have... RIGHT NOW. Jesus came that we might have life, and have it more abudantly. Jesus came that we might experiece life... here and now... by receiving and releasing His love. Not by working for it, or trying to earn it. By receiving it and releasing it. Experiencing and enjoying the gift we've been given... by giving it away. By sharing it. Experiencing and enjoying life... by living. (With the understanding that to live is to love and to love is to live.) Now stick with me on this one. Genesis 1:1 says, "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." That is the beginning. But of what? The beginning of the story. But what story? YOUR story. The story of Jesus Christ and how you fit into it. Because we know history is HIS story, right? He is the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. And everything in between. All our lives don't we just look for where we belong? Why we're here? What this life is for? The only way those questions are answered are when you find yourself in Him. So look at it like this: In the beginning God created the mind and body. In the beginning (of your story) God created... you. The days of heaven on earth are simply what happens when you let the mind of Christ (that's already in you) BE in you. When you USE the mind of Christ that you've already been given. When you focus on what really matters and think the very thoughts of God. In Jeremiah 29:11 God tells us that, "...I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end." HE knows the thoughts He thinks toward us. And He makes them known TO us. So that WE might know them. And think them. And act on them. Thoughts of peace, and not of evil. Thoughts of love, love, and only love. Heaven. The mind of Christ. The mind of love. The days of heaven on earth. Days of LOVE on earth. Living our best lives, here and now, by letting Jesus live HIS life in us, and through us, and as us. That's what is available to us. That's what has been given to us. That's what we can use, and and experience. Right now. Not some day far away after we die... but right now. That's what God gave to us because that's what He wants for us!

If you want to live... you have to love. Period. Because to live IS to love and to love IS to live. They aren't just connected, they are the same thing. Look at 1 Peter 4:8, "And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves: for charity shall cover the multitude of sins." Above all things... love. For love covers THE multitude of sins. Not "a" multitude. Not most. THE multitude. All. Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound, right? And that, by the way, was the cross. Before the cross... sin abounded. Then the Lamb of God came and took away the sin of the world. He who believes cannot sin. Sin is unbelief, so how could a believer sin? Jesus took sin (unbelief) away by giving us something (someONE, Himself, Love) to believe in. That's why faith is so important. The good fight of faith--laying hold of the gift of God that we've already been given, which is His abundant, everlasting, eternal, Resurrection Life of love--is the only fight we should be fighting. And laying hold doesn't mean getting something you haven't got. It means receiving what you have already been given. It means putting on what Jesus has already put on you--in the sense of sinking into it. In the sense of getting comfortable in it. In the sense of BEING who you are by ACCEPTING and EMBRACING who you are. Not trying to be someone you're not in order to get something you think you haven't got... but simply letting God love you and loving Him back by loving the people in your life. That the "above all." That's the priority. God and people. Loving God and loving people. Loving God BY loving people. Letting God love you (receiving it) and then loving Him back by loving those you come into contact with (releasing it). That's what this life is for and that's how this life is experienced. We experience Jesus's life by letting Him live His own life in us, and through us, and as us. It's not about trying to live Jesus's life. Nobody can live Jesus's life except Jesus. For us--and this is so amazing and so glorious--there is Galatians 2:20, "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me." Did you catch that? I died... yet I live. Because Christ lives in me. It's not me at all. It's the living God. The God who is love. God lives in me. Which means LOVE lives in me. Love isn't just what I do... it's who I am. And that makes love as a priority easy. Focusing on what's real. Focusing on what matters. Focusing on the only thing that matters. Jesus is the Alpha and Omega, right? The beginning and the end? Which means LOVE is the Alpha and Omega. It started with love and it (as much as something that is eternal CAN end) ends with love. Love is the first word on the subject and the final thing that there is to say. The beginning... the end... and everything in between. It's all about love. So make love your priority. If you want to feel love... love somebody. Love is giving. Don't worry about getting, just give what you've got. Let what's inside come out by knowing and believing that it's in there. Living and loving aren't just connected. They are the same thing!

I once had someone tell me, "You don't really take anything seriously except for your son and Jesus, do you?" (At the time I was a single parent and it was just me and the boy.) And I thought about it for a minute... and then agreed. Because what else matters? Family and love. Loving your family. That is what it's all about. And, listen, your circle can (and probably should) grow. Friends are the family that you choose, right? You can even love your neighbor (as yourself). You can go out into the world and preach the gospel to all of creation. You can love everything and everybody that you come into contact with. Because that's what love is. Love is unconditional. Which means it is for everybody. Without condition. Without them needed to earn it. Love is a gift. It cannot be earned. It can only be received and released. And that, friends, ought to be our priority in life. Our focus should always be on love. Receiving and releasing the love of God. Receiving it BY releasing it. Releasing it by receiving it. Breathing it in and breathing it out. Letting what's inside come out by knowing and believing it's in there. Because it IS in there. God's love is not something we need to get. Because love is never about getting. Because love is giving. That's the key. The key to the Kingdom. If your priority is getting then you've missed the point that you already have what you need. If your priority is giving than you are walking by faith and trusting that you have what you need. God isn't a genie where the rub the lamp and get three wishes. God is our heavenly Father who has already provided for us everything we can, or will, ever need. And think about this: If he's already given us what we need... and we're working for (or begging for) things we think we don't have... that means we are robbing ourselves from experiencing the things we do have. The things He has already given us. And that's not even to mention how HE must feel if we are begging Him for what He has already given us. Or begging Him for things we don't need when He has already supplied all our need. My point is--if you focus on what you have, you won't need to worry about what you don't have. If you give what you've got (instead of trying to get what you think you haven't got) you'll be able to experience and enjoy what you've got. It's a much more simple life. Just letting what's inside come out by knowing and believing that it's in there. Letting what's inside come out by filling yourself to overflowing with what you've already been filled with. Letting what's inside come out by letting God love the hell out of you and then loving Him back by loving the people, places, and things in your life. But it comes from a repentance. A change in mindset. Thinking again about things in light of new information. In light of the light of the world. In light of God's love. Listen guys. We love because He first loved us. We love because He has given us the love to love with. If love is your priority in life, everything else will fall into place. Because love is the silver lining on every cloud. Love is the solution. Love is life. To live is to love and to love is to live. You can't have one without the other and you can't do one without the other. So focus on love. Prioritize love. It is the Alpha, the Omega, and everything in between!

When we focus on what is really important in life... we experience life. Because love is what is really important, and to live is to love. To love is to live. They aren't just connected, they are the same thing. When we tend to miss it is when things kind of start to spiral out of control. Look at what Jesus said in Matthew 7:14, "Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it." Unfortunately, we seem to have taken this to be an "end time" scripture in which straight and narrow is the way that leads to heaven... instead of the broad path that leads to hell. I say unfortunately, because right there in the text Jesus tells us what He is talking about. Not afterlife. Life. And I believe hell is more of a current situation than an end point. Sometimes it feels like you're going through hell, right? At the same time, I believe heaven is where we are right now. The days of heaven on earth. That's what we have been given. That's what we can experience. With the right priorities. Instead of running around like chickens with our heads cut off trying to be someone we're not in order to get something we (think we) haven't got... we can just let God love us and then we can love Him back by loving people. And, listen, I'm all about live and let live. I'm all about grace. Letting people do their own journey at their own pace. So I don't like telling people what to do. Which is why I say this like this, "If you want to experience the abundant, everlasting, eternal, Resurrection life of God that IS Jesus's life of love... if you want to experience that, then you have to prioritize love in your life." It's the whole idea behind setting a goal and then doing everything you do in service of that goal. If love is your goal... then that's what you have to do. You have to love people. You have to give what you've got. That's literally the only way. The gate is strait and the way is narrow because it is love. Period. And, listen, love comes in many shapes and sizes. Love is given and received in many ways. So instead of looking at that verse as restrictive, instead of looking at it as a box to try to fit into, we need to see it for what it really is. Instructions from Jesus on how experience and enjoy His life. He is the door, right? The thief and the robber is anybody who tries to enter in by any way other than Him? And He is love. Any time we try to do anything without love... we are doomed to fail. Paul wrote about it in 1 Corinthains chapter 13. I'll just quote the first verse today, "Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am becoming as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal." It doesn't matter what you say, or how good it sounds, if there's no love in it. It doesn't matter what you do if there's no love in it. If love isn't your priority, you're wasting your time. Everything you do should be a labor of love. Charity--love in action. Random (or purposeful) acts of kindness. Be the change you want to see in the world. Let what's inside come out. By feeding it. By letting it grow. Helping it grow. Let what's inside come out by knowing and believing it's in there. That's what life is all about and that's how we experience this life we've been given!

There's a term in our key verse for this Rant series that I want to spend today exploring. "Put on." As in, "And above all these things PUT ON charity, which is the bond of perfectness" (Colossians 3:14). But, on the surface, that almost looks like you're adding something external. So look at Colossians 3:9-10, just a few verses earlier, "Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds; And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him." This putting off and putting on... that was the cross. That was 2,000 years ago. That was the old man dying in the watery grave of baptism and the New Man rising up to walk in newness of life. Leaving behind what came before--all of our twisted, out of whack, messed up priorities--and focusing only on what is truly important: God and people. Loving God and loving people. Loving God BY loving people. That's what we were created to do. We were created to be known and to know. To be loved and to love. That, friends, is the difference between the old man (who didn't know God loved him) and the New Man (who is the beloved Son of God--the one who lets Himself BE LOVED by God). Now check this out: That phrase "put on" in Colossians 3:10 is number 1746 in Strong's Greek Concordance and it means, "in the sense of sinking into a garment." We've already put it on. Or rather, like the father who ran out to meet the prodigal son, we've already had it put on us. Robed with HIS righteousness, and mercy, and truth, and grace, and forgiveness, and love. All we have to do is put on what has already been put on. Sink into it. Get comfortable with it. It's like that one pair of jeans that you've worn a million times and they just fit so perfectly. You feel natural in them. Like they're a part of you. You put those bad boys on and you're good to go. Ready to rock and roll. That's what charity can feel like. It's our new (true) nature, but when you're making such a huge shift from darkness to light it can take some getting used to. I heard a preacher say the other day, "This life is a life of restraint." Self-control is a fruit of Spirit. All things are lawful, but not all things edify. So we make choices. We set our priorities. We give our Three T's (Time, Talent, Treasure) to the things that matter to us--and in that way we MAKE those things matter to us. I Rant a lot about stretching youself. Getting out of your comfort zone. Going out on a limb--because that's where the fruit is. Now let me add this to that: Once you start to stretch out in God's love... that's when you get comfortable in it. That's when (and how) you test the height, and length, and depth, and breadth of God's love for you... by loving Him (by loving people) bigger and stronger than you ever thought you could. Love is giving. So you experience love by loving people. By giving what you've got. But you can only give what you've got if you know what you've got. You can only release it once you've received it. You release it BY receiving it. By filling yourself to overflowing with what God has already filled you with. By putting on what HE has already put on you. By making love your one and only true priority in life!

What you feed is what will grow. What you magnify in your life is what will manifest in your life. In other words, priorites are important. What you give your three t's (Time, Talent, Treasure) to is what, in a very real way, defines your life. That, to me, is why so many people are so miserable. We prioritize things that really don't matter. We get all twisted around and start to think things that are not important, are important. We give things power over us that really have no power at all except what we give them. Look at Colossians 3:14, "And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness." Love ought to be not only our number one priority, but our only priority! And I like the idea of "putting it on." Because we choose the clothes we wear as an extension of our personality, right? It's more than just what we have. It's who we are. Charity--love in action--is not just what we have. It is who we are. And it is the bond of perfectness. If you want relationships... you gotta have love. You gotta GIVE love. And you gotta make love your priority. Which means you've got to make people your priority. I believe the two most important things in the world are God and people. Love God and love people. Love God BY loving people. That's the whole point of the whole deal. And, yes, I Ranted recently about preaching the gospel to all of creation. Taking care of the gift we've been given. Ruling and reigning as kings and priests on this earth. Which, again, simply speaks to our priorities. Leaving things better than when we found them. Or at the very least not worse. And love is how we improve it. When you see litter, and you pick it up and throw it away, that's a labor of love. When someone needs to vent and you give them an ear... that's a labor of love. That's putting your priorities in order. That's focusing on what really matter. Filling yourself to overflowing with the love of God that you have already been given and giving it back to Him by giving it to the people (places, and things) in your life. Breathing it in and breathing it out. Receiving and releasing God's love. That's what we were created to do. Man cannot live by bread alone. He needs love. Rich people commit suicide because even though they have worldly goods, they oftentimes are missing that thing that is so crucial--love. Relationship. The bond of perfectness. It is not good that man should be alone. We need each other. And the only way we can "have" each other is by giving what we've got TO each other. Love is never about getting. Because love is giving. Giving everything you have and everything you are. That's how you experience everything you have and everything you are. It's not about getting. It's not about hoarding. It's about giving. Experiencing what you've got by sharing it. By giving it away. If getting is your priority, then you've missed the point. You have what you need. Stop running around like a chicken with your head cut off trying to get stuff you DON'T really need. Be content with what you have. Share what you have. And in that way experience what you have. Prioritize people. Prioritize making things better wherever you are. Prioritize love!

Standing fast in your liberty means holding onto it for dear life. Look at 1 Timothy 6:12, "Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses." And this is how I look at that--we have already been given eternal life, right? That's not something we need. That's something we have. That's the gift of God. He gave us that when He gave us His only begotten Son. Because eternal life is Jesus's life, right? The everlasting, eternal, abundant, Resurrection Life of God. That's the gift we've been given. The trick is to lay hold of it. To receive it and release it. To receive it BY releasing it. To breathe it in and breathe it out. And that's why it's called the good fight of FAITH. Believing that what God says is true... is true... is how we experience that gift we've already been given. It's not about getting. Love is never about getting. Because love is giving. You can give without loving, but you can't love without giving. So we need to make sure we're focused on the right thing. Have faith in God. That's what Jesus said (Mark 11:22). Which means have faith in love. Because God IS love. Love is what freedom and liberty truly means. Not freedom TO sin, but freedom FROM sin. Freedom TO love. Love is our nature. Our natural state of being. Love is what allows us to experience life to the fullest. Love is what makes this abundant life... abundant. Love is what it's all about. That's what I'm trying to say. So in order to stand fast in our liberty, we must cling to love like the life raft that it is. We must prioritize love over everything else. Which DOESN'T mean, by the way, that we stop working or taking care of our responsibilities. Working hard for the people in your life is a labor of love. Giving. Giving everything you are and everything you have. So don't think rest means inactivity. It doesn't. It means Holy Spirit directed activity. And the Holy Spirit only ever directs us to love. Because the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of love. Do you see a theme here? It's all about love. Standing fast--or laying hold of--your freedom and liberty is all about USING that freedom and liberty. Using it for what it truly is. Not for an opportunity to the flesh, but for opportunity to the Spirit. Letting what's truly inside come out by knowing and believing it's in there. We fight (and win) the good fight of faith by believing the truth. The ultimate truth of the universe says, "God is love and He loves you." It's that simple. When you know that and believe that... you can give that. You can let what's inside come out. You can hold fast to that truth--that love--no matter what anybody else is doing. It's not your job to police people. It's your job to love people. Sometimes that means from a distance. Sometimes that means even when they're doing something you don't like. Because it's not always about you. It's not about getting what you want. It's about giving what you've got. When you're free from trying to get... that's when you can give. When you know the truth you're free from the lie. When you know what you've got you can give what you've got! And that's how this life really works. Hold on to love... by giving it away. Stand on love... by walking with people. Stand fast in your liberty and don't let anything or anybody shake you.