What if everything we said and everything we did was based on the love that we have for one another? The love, in truth, that God has for us. Because that's the only way this works. "We love him, because he first loved us" (1 John 4:19). And we love Him BY loving each other. Whatsoever we do unto the least of them, we do unto the King, right? I like this verse even better in the Message Bible, "We, though, are going to love--love and be loved. First we were loved, now we love. He loved us first." It's all about receiving and releasing God's love. Letting Him love us and then loving Him back by loving each other. So when we're talking about fellowship--specifically the fellowship of the Spirit--it has to start with our relationship with God. It has to start with our communication, or communion, with Him. He is the One who fills us up. So that we can fill ourselves up to overflowing with what He has filled us up with. You can't make something out of nothing. Which is why Jesus described both us and Himself as the light of the world. It's the same light. It's HIM. He has filled us up with Himself. Created us out of Himself. We are love because God is love, and we were created in His image and likeness. We were, on the cross, conformed to the image of God's beloved Son in whom He is well pleased. Not so that HE would see us that way, but so that WE could see OURSELVES that way. When I hear people say, "God loves you just the way you are... He just loves you too much to leave you that way" I always get a little miffed. Because if He really loved us just the way we are... He wouldn't WANT us to be any other way. What I believe is that God DOES love us just the way we are. The way we REALLY are. Even if we don't know (or act accordingly) that we are that way. So instead of this idea of God needing to change us... I believe all God needs to do is SHOW us. Show us who we REALLY are, by showing us who HE really is. Teach us how to love by showing us how we are loved. And then it's our part, once we know who we are... once we know what we have... to do something with it. To BE who we are. To be peacemakers. To endeavor to fellowship with each other. And, listen, it takes effort. I'm not saying it doesn't. Love is the maximum effort that you can give! And when it comes to relationships, you have to give maximum effort. You get out of it what you put into it. What you feed is what will grow. What you magnify is what will manifest in your life. The Divine Order of things is for God to love us. First. And then for us to receive and release that love. Our fellowship with God defines our fellowship with each other. Because our fellowship with each other flows from our fellowship with God. Just as you can't make something out of nothing... you can't give what you don't have. And you can only give what you do have. God has filled us up. With His love. With His Spirit. With Himself. We have what we need. What matters is what we do with what we have. Love is giving. It's never about getting. And, again, we have what we need. We don't need to get anything. We need to give what we've got. Share what we have and who we are with the people in our lives. That's what this life is for. That's how we fellowship with each other and with God!

I'm going to do it today. Really. "Fellowship of the Spirit." From Philippians 2:1-2, "If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies, Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind." And the reason I've been harping on this term--or at least threatening to--is because, realistically, there are lots of different kinds of "fellowships." The word itself is number 2842 in Strong's Greek Concordance and it means, "partnership, that is, (literally) participation, of (social) intercourse, or benefaction:- to communicate, communion, distribution." Lots of definitions even. But that's my point. Just as love comes in many shapes and sizes and forms... so does fellowship. So does communication. So does partnership. And you won't have the same relationship with everybody. You can't. My relationship with my wife is very different than my relationship with my son. But I love them both more than anything. So the point is... Fellowship of the Spirit. The point is... love. The same love, being of one accord and one mind. And that doesn't mean you have to agree on everything all the time. Or any of the time. Disagreements don't mean there isn't love there. It's ok to agree to disagree. I've never felt the need to convince somebody that what I believe is right and what they believe is wrong. That's not ministry. Loving people no matter what is ministry. Majoring on the majors and minoring on the minors, as they say. Being able to fellowship with people of all ages, genders, races, and creeds. As long as there is love... there is fellowship. That's what the fellowship of the Spirit is--communion in love. Letting love be the glue that keeps us and binds us together. You can love someone and disagree with them. Really, you can. If you don't believe me, give it a try. Let love be the foundation of whatever you're doing. Do the things you do heartily--to the best of your ability and because it's in your heart to do it. When you fellowship with someone... base it on the Spirit. And no that doesn't mean base it on religion. It means base it on love. Those who are led by the Spirit are called (identified as) the Son(s) of God. Because the Spirit is the Spirit of truth, and it (HE) leads and guides us into all truth; the truth that God is love and He loves you. The truth that you can love because you are loved. Because you are LOVE. When you understand the way God fellowships with man--loving the hell out of us, and helping us, and protecting us, and living in us--that's when you can fellowship with your fellow man. That's when you can love the hell out of people, and help them, and protect them, and live with them. You don't have to change people--and in fact, you can't. You just have to love them. Support them. Edify them. Build them up. Show them who they really are by showing them who YOU really are, which is showing them who GOD really is! The best fellowship is the fellowship of the Spirit. The bond of love. Friendship. Bonds. Connections. Relationship. And, one more time, it's all about love! Love is the glue that binds us and keeps us together!

When I started my ministry (Word Without Walls) I asked a few people what I should call the thing. I've never been very traditional or "religious" so I wanted to take the temperature of the common man, so to speak. My best friend said to me, and I'll never forget it, "I don't know. Something with fellowship. That's what's it's about, right?" And, I mean, clearly I didn't take his advice. I went with WWW because I felt it was my mission to make the gospel accessible to people. That's why I do Rants, and videos online. Because some people don't like to (or can't) get to a traditional church building. I wanted BEING the church to be more important than GOING TO a church building. And, listen, don't get me wrong, I'm not against that. I think people get out of things what they put into them. I think you can find positives in just about any situation. Ok. So. I said all that to say this: Fellowship IS what it's all about. Because it's all about love. Love is the glue that binds us together. Look at 1 John 1:6-7, "If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin." Let me say it another way from later on in the book of 1 John. "If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?" (1 John 4:20). The love of God is what equips us and empowers us to love each other. That, in fact, is the New Commandment for the New Man. Love one another as Jesus has loved you. Receive and release the love of God. Let God love the hell out of you and then love Him back by loving the people around you. It's really that simple. That's how we live. That's how we experience the abundant, everlasting, eternal, Resurrection Life of love that is the gift of God! He's already given it to us. We have it. It's not something we need to get. It's something we ought to give. Because love IS giving. When you give what you've got, you experience what you've got. I don't really like spending money on myself very often. But I'll get other people whatever they need (or sometimes want). Because nobody ever went broke by being generous. God loves a cheerful giver. And it's not always money. You can give all of your three T's (Time, Talent, Treasure). You can lay your life down for your friends. You can give everything you have AND everything you are. And that's how people will know how you feel about them. That's how people will know that you are a disciple of Christ. Love defines us. If you go around loving people, you'll find yourself full of fellowship. If you let what's inside come out... by knowing and believing that it's in there... you'll be able to experience and enjoy it by helping others experience it and enjoy it! So... I know yesterday I said I wanted to get into the "fellowship of the Spirit." I meant to. Really. I did. All I can say is that I'll shoot for tomorrow. Come back and see!

I hope you're not sick of hearing about relationships. If you are, you're probably not reading these Rants anymore. If you're not sick of here... here we go! "If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies, Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind" (Philippians 2:1-2). There's only one way. A straight and narrow way that leads to life. The more excellent way that is Jesus. The more excellent way that is love. One love. One accord. One mind. That's how fellowship works. In order to be in a relationship with someone, you have to find SOME common ground. And the most common ground that exists is love. The ground at the cross is level. We are all the same when it comes to love. Love is universal and unconditional. When Jesus was lifted up from the earth onto the cross, He drew all men into Himself. He drew us out of Adam and into Christ. He drew us out of the world and into the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of Heaven. The Kingdom of Love! It's all about love. Love is what life IS. To live is to love and to love is to live. They aren't just connected, they are the same thing. And, in reality, love is the only thing that can truly connect us to each other. I know we get caught up in lots of different things. We do things because of guilt. Or because of obligation. We do things because we think we're "supposed" to. We do things for all sorts of reasons. But the best things we do come from the heart. The best reason to do something is because it's in your heart to do it. That's when you will really do it to the best of your ability. When you know what's inside, that's when you can let it out. That's when you can fill yourself to overflowing with what you've already been filled with and watch it come out naturally. The thing I think we get stuck on the most is that we look at relationships with the mindset of "What can I get out of this?" Which is completely the wrong mindset. A relationship will not work if you're just trying to get things out of it. What matters is what you put into it. Love is giving. Not getting. Relationships work when both people put effort into it. And listen, it's not 50-50. It's 100-100. If you don't put everything you have into it... it's not going to work. I will say this: You DO get out of it what you put into it. A relationship--or fellowship--that you put all of yourself into will thrive. Jesus said the greatest love a man can have is to lay your life down for your friends. To give everything you have and everything you are. And, as backwards as it sounds, the more you give... the more you have. You don't lose love by giving it away. You magnify it. You make it grow, and expand. You increase it. That's what love does. That's what love IS. Love is a Holy Spirit wildfire that feeds on itself (Himself) and grows and grows and grows. Just as your relationships will grow and grow and grown when you take care of them. When you put effort into them. When you fill them up with love. I didn't really get where I wanted to go today. I wanted to talk about the "fellowship of the Spirit." But, hey, there's always tomorrow!

The opposite of vanity (emptiness) is fullnes. That makes sense, right? In the beginning we were dark and void and without form. But then God said, "Let there be light" and filled us up with light. Filled us up with love. Filled us up with Himself. And then we fill ourselves to overflowing with what He has filled us with. Look at Pasalm 24:3-4, "Who shall ascend into the hill of the LORD? or who shall stand in his holy place? He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully." Let me say that another way. The Pastor Tom translation, as it were. "Who can experience the things that God has given to him? He that receives it and releases it, instead of wasting his three T's (Time, Talent, Treasure) in order to try to get it." Lifting up your soul into vanity, to me, means trying to fill that void yourself. Trying to fill a God-shaped, love-shaped void with any and every thing else. It's that idea of the robber who comes not but to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. It's the idea that when WE try to get something ourselves, instead of receiving and releasing what He has already given us... we are robbing ourselves of what we've already been given. And that, friends, is vanity. That is screaming into the void. Complaining about what you don't have instead of enjoying what you do have. It's a matter of perception. A matter of focus. Magnifying the God (the love) in our lives so that it will manifest in our lives. What you feed is what will grow. What you put into it is what you get out of it. What you give yourself to determines and defines what you experience. So if you give yourself to love... you will experience love. If you give what you've got instead of running around like that old chicken with it's head cut off trying to get something... you'll be able to experience what you've got. Love is giving. You can give without loving, but you can't love without giving. They aren't just connected, they are the same thing. Vanity is emptiness. Trying to fill that emptiness yourself. Ascending into the hill of the Lord... standing in that Holy Place... that's letting God fill you up with HIMSELF. Being still and knowing that HE is God. Not trying to get something you thnk you haven't got by trying to be someone you're not, but knowing and believing that you are who God says you are. Knowing and believing that you have what God says you have. And then doing someting WITH what you have. Life is not about getting. It's about giving what you've got. Knowing what you've got, and sharing what you've got. That's how you build relationships with people. That's how you affect people's lives in a positive manner. That's how you build people up and edify them. That's what we all need in this life. We need help. We need bonds and connections. We need each other. And the only way for us to be connected to each other is through the bond of love. We don't need love. We have love. What matters is what we do with that love that we have. What matters is that we get past the vanity (emptiness) and into the abundance (fullness) of God's love!

I think--I HOPE--this is an encouraging Rant. Well, really, I hope they all are. That's kind of the point: Edification and encouragement. I think that's kind of the least we can do for each other. Which, by the way, is also the most we can do for each other. I've been stuck on this idea of love being the standard. Literally the Alpha and Omega. The beginning and the end of the conversation. Because it all comes down to love. Giving the love that we have. Receiving and releasing the love that God has given to us. The problem comes when we get twisted around and focus on all the other things. The distractions. I once knew someone who was concerned almost completely with distracting themselves from what was going on. And I always thought it was more important to focus on the right thing than distract yourself from whatever else. Set your affection on things above, and not on things on the earth. Make sure you are magnifying love in your life. Because what you magnify in your life is what will manifest in your life. What you feed is what will grow. If you keep trying to get that carrot, but never end up with anything but the stick, you WILL get discouraged. You WILL get frustrated and will probably even give up. Listen, making mistakes is not the same thing as failing. The only true failure is failure to try. Mistakes happen so we can learn from them. And learning and growing is a big part of what this life is all about. Growing in grace. Growing in the knowledge of Christ. Not becoming someone we're not, but accepting who we really are. Understanding who we really are. Embracing who we really are. BEING who we really are. Vanity is emptiness. Thinking we're lacking something. And vanity is trying to fill that emptiness, or that lack, with anything other than God. Anything other than love. Look, if you know me at all you know I'm not a religious dude. At all. But I do love people. Because my heavenly Father loves me. And that love that He pours into me and fills me up with equips and empowers me to empty myself of that same love. That's how we obey the New Commandment. We let Jesus love us and then we love Him back by loving each other. And it all comes back to the truth that you can't give what you don't have. And you can only give what you do have. You can't fill yourself. But you can share what you've already been filled with. We don't have to "get" love, because God has already given us His love. We don't have to earn it, or collect it. We simply have to receive it. Receive it and release it. We simply have to fill ourselves with what we've already been filled with. In the beginning we were dark and void and without form. But then God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. HE did what needed to be done. HE filled us up with Himself. He gave His life for us... and TO us. So that we could have it. So that we could experience it by giving it away. Experience His abundant, everlasting, eternal, Resurrection Life of Love by sharing it with the people around us. There's no vanity in that. That's the secret of life: Let God love and love Him back by loving people. That's the opposite of empty. That's a full life worth living!

Filling that emptiness we feel. That's a big part of what we've turned life into, right? Life, liberty, and the PURSUIT of happiness. See, according to that, happiness isn't guaranteed. But the pursuit of it is. Chasing the carrot. The problem is, so many times, we only ever get the stick. Because we try to do it ourselves. We try to fill a God-shaped, love-shaped void with everything and anything else. Which won't work. How could it? What else could fill a God-shaped hole... but God? What else could fill a love-shaped void... but love? The world has us believing that we can (and should) earn our bread by the sweat of our brow. But there is a more excellent way. Look at Romans 15:13, "Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost." This, I believe, is one of the keys to the Kingdom. Not filling yourself... but letting God fill you! And then "filling yourself" to overflowing with what you've already been filled with. So here's the question: How do we do that? How do we fill ourselves? By believing. Receiving it and releasing it. Knowing what we have... and using what we have! Giving away what God has given to us. Sharing it. That's how we experience what we've got. And when we're experiencing what we've got... we won't be worried about what we think we haven't got. We won't be focused on the "lack" we will be focused on the abundance. Let me say it like this: When you know (and believe) the truth... you can ignore the lie. It won't mean anything to you. It won't be anything you care about or are interested in. When you are filled up with the good things--the goodness--of God... you won't care about whatever else. You'll count it all as dung. If you have God (and you do, because He has you), you have everything. Everything you need. Everything that could possibly bring you that joy that you're always searching for. The peace that comes from finding what you've been searching for. One more memory verse for tonight: "Hope deferred maketh the heart sick: but when the desire cometh, it is a tree of life" (Proverbs 13:12). Like I said earlier, chasing the carrot but only ever getting the stick is awful. It makes you feel hopeless. Like all of your effort is for naught. Like screaming into the void. Or pouring yourself into the black hole. That kind of stuff gets real old real fast. Discouraging. Makes you really understand the definition of insanity--doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. Which is why I always say, "If you want something different... do something different. Unless you're building. In which case, stay the course." If you want love... don't demand it. Don't try to earn it, or steal it, or "get" it. If you want to feel love... love someone. Because love IS giving. When you love someone, you are proving (to yourself, at the very least) that you have love to give. The way to believe that you are loved... is to love people. To give what you've got. To give yourself--everything you have and everything you are--to the people around you. It's all vanity... except love. That's the sum total of the whole thing. It's all about love. God loves us, and we love Him back by loving each other!

Vanity means emptiness. And it is that emptiness that we go through life spending our three T's (Time, Talent, Treasure) trying to fill. Here's the deal though: "And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters" (Genesis 1:2). That's us. In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. The heaven is our mind and the earth is our body. In the beginning God created... us. He created you. He created me. The problem, such as it was, was that we didn't know who we were. Because we were dark and void and without form. We were empty, in a sense. We didn't know who WE were because we didn't know who HE (God) was. And yet, the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. He was right there with us. Whether we knew it--could see it--or not. God swore He would never leave us nor forsake us, right? He is always there for us, and with us. No matter what. And then it gets even better. Because we think WE are supposed to fill that emptiness, or that void. We think WE are supposed to somehow be what we (or, usually, the world) thinks we are supposed to be. Be someone else. Be someone else's idea of a "good Christian," or even a "good person." We think we're supposed to conform. Fit in. When, in truth, we were created to stand out. When, in truth, the only way for us to fill that emptiness... is to fill ourselves with what we've already been filled with. To receive what we have already been given. Because right after Genesis 1:2 comes this little gem, "And God said, Let there be light: and there was light" (Genesis 1:3). God was right there with us. Right from the jump. Even though we didn't know who we were, because we didn't know who He was. But that wasn't enough for Him. He didn't want us to be in that state of confusion. That state of longing. That state of feeling like we were without form. He wanted us to know who we were. Perfect and complete in Him. Fearfully and wonderfully made. So He shined His light (of love) on us. Into us. Through us. He shined His light so that we could see that we ARE that light. Jesus identified us as the light of the world. And He identified Himself as the light of the world. It's the same light. The light of life. The light of love. That's what fills us up. Or, more accurately, shows us that we are ALREADY filled up! The reason that we feel like everything is vanity--that we are empty--is because we are focused on what we don't have a lot of the time instead of what we do have. We look without instead of looking within. We focus on the negatives instead of the positives. We make mountains out of molehills instead of understanding that God has brought every mountain low and every valley high. He has made a straight and narrow way that leads to life--a more excellent way called love! And here's the key to the Kingdom: If you don't want to feel empty... fill someone else up. That's what love is; giving what you've got. Letting what's inside come out. Naturally. By knowing and believing that it (HE, LOVE) is in there. Filling yourself to overflowing with what you've already been filled with!

"Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity" (Ecclesiastes 1:2). It feels like that sometimes, doesn't it? Like no matter what you do you're always trying to get to the top of the hill... and you're always just sliding further and further down the slope. One step forward, two steps back, right? You finally get a little bit of a breakthrough... and then you get hit in the face with another setback. And, yes, I believe that a setback is simply a setup for a comeback. But after a while it gets harder and harder to come back. The more your hand gets slapped away... the less you want to reach out. Look what that word, "vanity," means: It is number 1892 in Strong's Hebrew Concordance and it means, "emptiness." To me it means giving everything you've got and feeling like you've got nothing left. Like screaming into the void. Like pouring yourself into a black hole that just takes, and takes, and takes. And that's hard, man. That's really hard. I think the Preacher, Solomon, the wise son of David, wrote an entire twelve chapter book about this theme because it is so universal. We all feel that way sometimes. Maybe a lot of the time, depending on different things. Life is tought. Life is hard. In this world you WILL have tribulation. But. Right? But God? While that may be part and parcel to the universal human condition... that's not the whole story. That's not all there is. Let's skip ahead to the end of Ecclesiastes, see what old Solomon came up with. See, he started with "Vanity of vanities; all is vanity." And he went through it all. Trying to find "The Meaning of Life." He looked at music, and food... whatever he thought might be able to fill that emptiness inside. And he was one of the richest men ever, right? So he could do it right. Anything he desired, boom, it was right there at his fingertips. This guy didn't have to deny himself anything. If it sounded good to him, he could have it. Or do it. or experience it. And yet, he still felt that it was vanity. He still felt empty. Jump to Ecclesiastes 12:13, "Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man." After coming to the conclusion--the same conclusion that Paul would have later on--that everything else is but dung... Solomon got to the bottom line. "Fear God and keep his commandments." And that doesn't mean, "Be afraid of God and do what He says or else." It means, "Revere God and love others as He has loved you." That's His commandment--the New Commandment for the New Man. And that's when the emptiness is filled. Because it's a God-shaped, love-shaped hole that we're trying to fill. And you can only fill a God-shaped (love-shaped) hole with one thing: God (love). It's all about God. Because it's all about love. I always say, "If you don't know what to do, do what you know. Love." If we don't have anything else at all figured out... we still have the foundation that God is love and He loves us. And we can build on that foundation. When we feel empty, we can fill ourselves to overflowing with what we've already been filled with. We can draw on what we have. Even when we feel empty. Especially when we feel empty!

I think this is a good--right--way to end this Rant series: "Be very sure now, you who have been trained to a self-sufficient maturity, that you enter into a generous common life with those who have trained you, sharing all the good things that you have and experience" (Galatians 6:6 MSG). The whole "releasing" aspect of "receiving and releasing." What you have is important. And knowing what you have is perhaps even more important. But what you DO with what you have is the most important. We are blessed to be a blessing. That's the simpliest way I can put it. And, yes, we can enjoy those blessings WHILE we are blessing others. That's a great fringe benefit. When we share what we have--who we are--with others, we get to experience and enjoy what we have, and who we are. Love is giving. So if you want to feel love... love someone. If you want to feel important... let someone else know that THEY are important. It's not about what you get. It's about what you have. Because you can't give what you don't have, and you can only give what you do have. And, of course, because we have everything we need. Because we have God. Because we have each other. Because we have... love. As the Beatles once sang, "Love is all you need." Truer words were never spoken. Love is the Alpha and the Omega. The beginning and the end. And everything in between. Love is what we rely on. Love is what fills us up, so that we can fill ourselves up to overflowing, and let that love--that God has already filled us up with--come out. Naturally. With every move we make and every breath we take. When you trust in God to be your source (of everything), then you don't have to worry (about anything). When you start to live out of your abundance, that means that you know (and believe) that you HAVE that abundance. And, by the way, LOVE is that abundance. Love is what makes that abundant life... abundant. Love is the difference between life as we generally know it... and the abundant, everlasting, eternal, Resurrection Life of God. I've heard it said like this, "No love... no life. KNOW love... KNOW life!" It is only through the love of God--receiving it and releasing it--that we can experience the life of God. Only by letting Jesus--who is God in the flesh, love in a body... God in OUR flesh, love in OUR body--live HIS life in us, and through us, and as us. Resting. Trusting. Flowing. Not trying to do things ourselves. It takes training in order to grow in this "self"-sufficient maturity. Training for reigning, right? That's when we can enter into a generous common life with those around us. That's when we can give what we've got. Because we know we've got something. Something worth giving. Something worth sharing. When you know what you've got you CAN give what you've got... AND you will WANT to give what you've got. Because it's too good to keep to yourself. Being "self"-sufficient is about knowing that we're all in this together, and that our God has provided all our need. That's where our sufficiency comes from. That's how we get through everything we need to go through. We have what we need. What matters is what we do with what we have!