Thinking about self is really thinking about Jesus. Because He is our true self. And thinking about Jesus is thinking about love. Jesus is God in the flesh. Love in a body. God in OUR flesh. Love in OUR body. So let's change "self-centered" to "Christ-centered." Which, of course, means people centered. Because whatever we do unto the least of them we do unto the King. How we treat each other (and ourselves) is how we treat our God. And really, it is a reflection of how we believe He treats us. Because our actions flow from our beliefs. If we believe we serve a distant angry God... we'll be distant and angry. Crushed under the weight of sin--unbelief. We'll be self-centered because we'll be scared of what God is going to do to us. When, in fact, the only thing God has ever done to us is love the hell out of us. Look at one of my most favorite memory verses, "For 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" (Jeremiah 29:11). Our actions flow from what we believe. What we think in our hearts (which, by the way, is why its important to bring our thoughts under captivity... to set our affection on things above and not on the earth) is what manifests in our lives. Thinking about ourselves all the time is a receipe for disaster. Always trying to get, get, get is the best way to end up with nothing. The more you tighten your grip, the more things slip through your fingers. I'm trying to say its more blessed to give than receive. Even though you can only give what you HAVE received. So receiving comes first, but that's not the whole deal. We receive so that we can give. Jesus came that we might have life, and that more abundantly. And now that we have that, we can live out of our abundance. We can give what we've got, because we know what we've got. We don't have to be afraid that God's going to get us... because 2,000 years ago on the cross He got us! Not in a negative way, but in the best way possible. He got us in our hearts. Because He gave us HIS heart. He lives in our hearts. His heart beats with love in our chests. What's inside comes out, right? Or, rather, what you believe is inside comes out. It has to. Its too big to stay inside. So when we think about self... we really ought to be thinking about each other. Many members of the same body. I always say this about my kid, "He is me." Because he came from me. He's mine. But what if we saw everybody that way? What if we really understood just how connected we are. And what if we loved the hell out of each other in exactly the same way that God loves the hell out of us? Jesus didn't come to be ministered to. He came to minister. He didn't come to be served. He came to serve. And to give His life for us. To give His life TO us. Jesus is our true self. That hidden man of the heart. And every time we stop hiding that inner man... every time the Word (which is Jesus, which is love) becomes flesh... that's when we truly BE who we are. That's when our true self is revealed. Because its Jesus. And He reveals Himself to us, and in us, and through us, and as us. LOVE reveals Himself to us, and in us, and through us, and as us!

Selfless vs selfish. The difference between the New Man and the old man. The difference, really, between life and death. Because to live is to love and to love is to live. And love is giving. Giving everything you are and everything you have. Laying your life down for your friends. And destroying your enemies by MAKING them your friends. That's what it means to be selfless. Esteeming others higher than yourself. Doing for others. Living out of your abundance by seeing a need and meeting it. Taking care of people. Helping people. And I'm telling you, as cynical and jaded as we all seem to be these days... even a little help goes a LONG way. I can remember times in my life when I needed help pretty clearly. Because I don't like needing help. I'd prefer to be able to just take care of business. No fuss, no mess, no needing to rely on people. But that's not how life works. Because life is messy. Its not good for man to be alone, because we CAN'T do it all ourselves. None of us can. But the thing I remember so clearly about needing help--I remember it both ways. I remember the times I didn't get the help I needed. And that's so hard. Once you've reached a hand out and gotten it slapped away its really hard to keep reaching it out. Embarassment. Hurt. Confusion. Just a few of the emotions we feel when we don't get the help we need. But, on the other hand, its so powerful (remember the last Rant series about Strength?) when someone DOES swoop in and save the day. Relieved. Happy. Loved. Its a great feeling. I think its true that love is spelled t-i-m-e, because giving someone your time is about the best way I can think of to show them you love them. Time is one thing you'll never get back. That's why I try to spend as much of it as possible with my kid--because I love him. And because I know these times we DO have to share together won't last forever. Its precious. And when you go out of your way--giving your time and effort to someone--to help them when they've just about given up? That's like above and beyond. Supernatural. God's super on our natural. Because we don't do anything--selfless OR selfish--of our own selves. It all flows from what we believe. Either way, Christ's love controls us. Either we think we don't have it and we want to get it... or we know that we do have it and we give it away. Selfless vs selfish. Giving vs getting. Love is giving. Love is selfless. Thinking about others. See, being humble isn't about thinking less of yourself. Its simply thinking about yourself less. Its not putting yourself down. Its lifting others up. And not worrying about yourself. I know I hit this idea a lot, but here it is again: If I look out for you and you look out for me, neither one of us has to look out for ourselves. And while I spent today talking about receiving (or not receiving) the help we need... even more powerful is giving others the help THEY need. That's why one of my mottos is, "I've got your back." Its so powerful. Its, truly, the only way to live. Giving people what they need. And not worrying about what you have. Trusting that we don't have to do it ourselves. Because its the power of God (LOVE) working in us!

To understand that our "self" is really Jesus... He is our true self, the inner man, the hidden man of the heart... is what allows us to shift from being selfish to being selfless. As we saw yesterday, even Jesus Himself said, "I can of my own self do nothing." He was totally and completely dependent upon His Father. And that's the key to this whole thing: The affirmation of a Father will always equip and empower His Son. When Jesus was baptized and His heavenly Father spoke about Him being the beloved Son in whom He is well pleased... that's when Jesus started to do miracles. Because He was filled to overflowing with that love of God, and it came of out Him. Naturally. He knew (and believed) that He had something to give. One more time, the difference between being selfish--and always trying to get--and being selfless--and giving what you've got. You can't give what you don't have. And you can only give what you do have. So its important to KNOW what you have. You can't believe something you don't know. That's the Divine Order of things. Faith comes from hearing and hearing from the Word (Jesus, LOVE) of God. We hear that Word, "I love you," and then we believe that we are loved, and then we can love. We love because He first loved us. We love Him back by loving each other. But it all flows from the Father of lights. And, I gotta say right here, it took me longer than I would care to admit to figure out why James 1:17 referred to God that way. "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning." Father of lights... our heavenly Father... oh! Because WE are the light of the world! I figured it out... eventually. But the point is, every good and perfect gift comes from Him. Everything He expects FROM us, He first provides TO us. So this idea that we need to GET anything at all is just plain wrong. We have what we need. We are who we need to be. What would help us out tremendously is knowing what we have. Knowing who we are. I think people are still waiting for a move of God. God moved 2,000 years on the cross. We don't need a move of God. We need a revelation of Jesus. We need to know what happened when He moved, and what it means for us that He did move. And what it means for us is that we can be our true selves. On the cross God conformed us to the image of His Son. He gave us His Spirit so that we could cry out, "Abba, Father." So that we could know Him as He truly is, and know ourselves (and each other) as we truly are. On the cross the hidden man of the heart was revealed. And every time we act in love--every time the Word is made flesh--that hidden man of the heart is revealed. To us, and in us, and through us, and as us. And, because love is giving, we can only act in love by giving what we've got. By laying our lives down for our friends. By glady spending everything we have and everything we are no matter how people react to it. And I'm not saying you should try to cram your love down people's throats. I'm saying love them no matter what. Use wisdom and understanding. Build relationships. Love them in the way they need to be loved. By don't get discouraged if they don't pick up what you're laying down. Getting a reaction is not the point. Helping people is the point!

I think--I hope--in that last Rant series about being strong we saw that our strength comes from grace. From love. From each other. From God. But in case y'all didn't pick up what I was laying down, and because my pastor taught me to preach it until my heart is empty on it, I'm going to follow that up with a series about self. But not selfish... selfless. Let me quote my memory verse: "I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me" (John 5:30). That was Jesus speaking. The red letters. Even Jesus Himself--literally the fulness of God in a body--knew that He couldn't do anything by Himself or of Himself. Because He knew it wasn't about Himself. He was the sacrifice that was given for US. Look at Matthew 20:28, "Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many." The difference between being selfish and being selfless. Not doing things for Himself... but for us. Literally giving His life to ransom us from death. Because before the cross we WERE dead in our trespasses and sins. Adam ate of the tree of knowledge of good and evil and on that day he surely died. See, Jesus came to give us life, and that more abundantly. But first He had to give us a death. The second death. The death TO death. The death OF death. So that we could be free from sin and death. And then, three days later when He rose again, He gave us life. And not just any life, but HIS life. That abundant life that He spoke of. His abundant, everlasting, eternal, Resurrection Life. A life of love. And love is giving. He gave us the knowledge (so that we could believe what we know) that we have everything we need. And having everthing we need--knowing and believing that we have everything we need--is what equips and empowers us to give what we've got. When you know you have what you need you can stop trying to get. You can give. And you'll WANT to give. Because what you've got is too big, and too good, and too important to keep to yourself. What you have is what everybody needs. Because what you have is love. And the desire of the human heart is love. I believe that we do everything we do because of love. Either because we don't know that we have it and we will do anything in the world to get it... or because we do know we have it and we do everything we do to share what we've got. 2 Corinthians 5:14 (NLT) says, "Either way, Christ's love controls us. Since we beleive that Christ died for all, we also believe that we have all died to our old life." Its all about love. And, one more time, love is giving. Its about self... but only in the way that we do nothing of our own selves. Or, really, FOR our own selves. And, listen, I'm not saying you shouldn't take care of yourself. I'm simply saying that if I take care of you and you take care of me... neither one of us has to worry about ourselves. We'll all be covered... when we cover each other. When we stop being selfish and start being selfless!

I really like the verse in Ecclesiastes that I quoted early in this Rant series. So I'm going to quote it again to close this bad boy down. Ecclesiastes 4:12, "And if one prevail against him, two shall withstand him; and a threefold cord is not quickly broken." Kind of another way of saying, "And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make an help meet for him" (Genesis 2:18). Its not good for us to be alone. By ourselves we can easily be prevailed against. Sneak attack from behind. We're done for. But two shall withstand him, because then we can get each others' backs. We can cover each others' blindspots. "I didn't see that coming!" "Its ok. I've got your back." We're better together. Stronger together. Every year on New Year's Eve I watch Scarface. And every year I can't help but think that if Tony Montana hadn't killed his best friend... together they would have survived. Its a tragedy. And it can be avoided. Because when I Rant about Jesus I'm Ranting about love. And love is giving. Love is relationship. We let the smallest thngs destroy our relationships when, really, "...above all things have fervent charity among yourselves: for charity shall cover the multitude of sins" (1 Peter 4:8). Love is as strong as it gets, right? Love is all-powerful. So we don't have to let little things become big things. We don't have to give things power that have no power. We can just love people no matter what. Love covers THE multitude of sins. All. Everything. It doesn't matter how someone treats you. You can turn the other cheek. You're stronger than what's trying to trip you up. We can lay aside the weight and the sin that so easily besets us. We can be the bigger person. Take the high road. And we can--and should--do it together. Help each other. Encourage each other. Its not good for us to be alone. We are social creatures, by nature. Even me. And I'm practically a hermit. But I know I can't do it all by myself. I can only do what I can do. And that's all we should expect from each other. If we expect anything at all from each other. Instead of expecting things FROM each other, we should be more interested in what we can do FOR each other. Bind ourselves together into that threefold cord. Because if I do my part, and you do your part, chances are everything will get done. But if I try to do it all myself--or if I expect you to do it all yourself--we'll both probably burn out and none of it will get done. Its ok to say no. Its ok to stay in your own lane. Be YOU. Do what YOU can do. Together... we're better. Stronger. Complete. Just as we are complete in Him--we have no lack because our God has no lack--we complete each other. That might sound cheesy, but its true. Asking for help is not a sign of weakness. It is a sign of wisdom. I think I used this quote already, but it fits. "If you want to go fast, go alone. But if you want to go far, go together." We need each other. When we're there for each other, we give strength and receive strength. Making ourselves and each other... strong.

Its easy to be strong when there's no adversity. But you've probably heard that old saying, "Christians are like teabags, you never know what they're made of until you put them in hot water." That's when what's inside really comes out. That's when you have to put your money where your mouth is. That's when the rubber meets the road. And, like I've been saying, strength is not about forcing your way into your own way. Love doesn't demand its (HIS) own way. But strength IS about standing on the Rock and saying, "I will not be shaken." Look at Philippians 4:13, "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me." And add that to Matthew 5:39, "But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also." Because that's one of the hardest things to do--to get attacked and not retaliate. To not resist evil. To not fight back. To let people be who they are--whether its good, bad, or ugly--and still be who YOU are. To stand strong. To stand tall. To weather the storm. To endure. That takes strength. But through Christ--through LOVE--we can do all things. Endure all things. Love all things (or at least all people). Love is all-powerful. Through that "laying your life down for your friends" love we can do all things. Through that "giving everything you have and everything you are" love we can do all things. I think what I'm trying to say is that love isn't about getting your own way. Love is about being ok when you don't. If you're always all about getting your own way... first of all, that's selfish. Which is the opposite of being selfless. And second of all, controlling people and manipulating people is about the farthest thing away from love that I can think of. If there's one thing I've really figured out from my job working with special needs kids, its that you can't make people do things. People are gonna do what they're gonna do. My uncle is fond of saying, "Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it." That's why turning the cheek is so important--so strong. Because if someone hits you, and you don't hit back... you win. I think it was Mark Twain who said, "Never argue with stupid people, they will drag you down to their level and then beat you with experience." Don't go down to their level. That's not where you belong. Rise above it. Be the bigger person. Take the high road. There's adversity. That's part and parcel with life. Things don't go the way you expect them to. They don't always go the way you want them to. And that's ok. Because its not all about you. Another old phrase, "If you can't change it, change your attitude about it." The strongest people aren't the ones who run around trying to crush people and circumstances into the way they think they ought to be. The strongest people are the ones who make the best of things. Who endure. Who don't fight back. The strongest people are the ones who let love lead the way. Who love regardless of whatever else is going on. Love will carry you through whatever you have to go through. And tomorrow, to end this Rant series, I think I'm going be, one more time, talking about how much  stronger we are... together.

Love is all-powerful, right? Which doesn't mean MOST powerful. It means ALL of the power. So, by that Logan logic, there's nothing stronger than love. Right? And love doesn't demand its (HIS) own way. So being strong doesn't mean getting what you want all the time. Its not "right because of might." I know the winners get to write the histories, but the real winners are those who GIVE what they've got rather than trying to GET. Love is never about getting, because love IS giving. And if there's nothing stronger than love... that means there's nothing stronger than giving. Giving everything you have and everything you are. That's the strongest thing there is. And, let me just say it again, all powerful doesn't mean most powerful. It means there is no other power. All of these other things that seduce us into thinking a certain way, or mix us up and mess us up... they don't have any power. None. Unless we GIVE them power. Because, like I always say, what you BELIEVE is inside is what will come out. What you believe (either the report of the Lord, or the lies of the world) is what is real to you. What you magnify is what will manifest in your life. If you believe the lie that says you aren't good enough, for example, that's what's real to you. Now, the truth is you ARE good enough. Always have been. Always will be. Fearfully and wonderfully made by a loving Creator for no other purpose than to express Himself to you, and in you, and through you, and as you by loving you. You ARE good enough. But if you believe you're not... you'll act like you're not. And if you already are good enough, but you don't believe it, and you run yourself ragged trying to prove that you are good enough, or somehow become good enough, then all you're really doing is robbing yourself of what you've already been given. You can't earn a gift. Certainly not one that you've already been given. But if you keep trying to earn it instead of just enjoying it--receiving it and releasing it--then you'll miss out on it. Faith is so important. Faith in God. Believing in love. Believing the ultimate truth of the universe that says, "God is love and He loves you." Once we have that settled in our hearts and minds, everything else falls into place. Well, really, everything else is already IN place. So what happens when the light shines is that everything is REVEALED to be in place. In Divine Order. So we can be strong in grace and forgiveness and mercy and love... when we know that we are full of grace and mercy and forgiveness and love. You can't give what you don't have. And you can only give what you do have. Love isn't something to "get." Its what we've already got. Because its who we are. Because its who God is. And He lives in us. He lives through us. He lives as us. As He is, so are we in this world. So what am I trying to say today? I'm trying to say love never fails. Which means we can never fail when we let that love that's inside us come out. When we act in kindness and love. Charity is love in action. And that's as strong as it gets!

Let's add the next verse to our key verse from yesterday. "Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also" (2 Timothy 2:1-2). Its all about receiving and releasing. Taking what you've heard--from eyewitness accounts of God and His love--and then teaching others. Being strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus is, really, as strong as you can be. And why grace is so important is because His strength is made perfect in our weakness. If we could be strong all by ourselves we wouldn't need Him. And I believe God WILL let us try to do things ourselves, if that's what we're of a mind to do. But I don't recommend that. Remember yesterday I said I might touch on the idea of how sometimes we have to go through this to get to that? And how sometimes we don't need to? Well, my dad referred to it as "going around the mountain." And he always said sometimes we need to go around the mountain more than once before we could figure it out. And while he liked to say, "I've made a lot of mistakes in my life, but never the same mistake twice," I was always the opposite. I liked to make the same mistake at least a couple of times... just to be really, really sure that it WAS a mistake. The point I'm trying to make is that we all learn at different speeds. Sometimes you have to go through it before you figure it out. And sometimes you don't. Sometimes you try something and just immediately "get it." They call that being a natural, right? When you're just naturally good at something? And that's all well and good. But when you DO go through something... well... a man with an experience is never at the mercy of a man with an argument. No matter how good something might sound, if you've been there, done that, and got the t-shirt then you know what its really all about. And when we're talking about the strength of God's grace... when we're talking about teach others... there's nothing stronger than being able to say, "I've been where you're at. I made it through. You can too." There's nothing stronger than being able to help someone through what they're going through, with your first-hand knowledge. Receiving AND releasing. Giving what you've got. And, sad but true, sometimes people be able to receive what you've got to give. Sometimes people won't want you're advice. But you have to let them do what they're going to do. Like I said, I think God let's us have some measure of free will. If we want to do something... we're probably going to. I've found that two of the hardest things in life are 1. Doing something you don't want to do. 2. Not doing something you do want to do. Most people are pretty stubborn. Once something strikes us, or grabs us, or gets into our heads... its hard to get out. We have to be heavily persuaded oftentimes to change our minds. But an experience will do that real quick. It will make us understand what's really what in a strong way. In a way that we can then share. So be gracious. Graceful. Offer what you've got, but don't force it on people. Its stronger, and more meaningful--its real--if they pick up what you're laying down without being forced.

I think sometimes we let "the way of the world" seduce us. We take things as Hollywood presents them to us. We don't put a lot of thought into what really is. Strength, for example. Which is where I'm going to spend the next few days. Because sometimes the strongest thing you can do is... nothing. Turning the other cheek takes immense strength. Especially when our "natural" reaction is to retaliate. And I put "natural" in quotation marks because our new (TRUE) nature is the love nature. Our true nature is not the carnal, beast nature. But we've come to believe that we're "only human." That we can't control the things we do. Guys... self control is a fruit of the Spirit. Really, it is. But we let "common knowledge" dictate to us. Look at 2 Timothy 2:1, "Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus." That's where this Rant series is coming from. That's the verse that sparked in my heart. Be strong in grace. Grace, of course, being number 5485 in Strong's Greek Concordance and meaning, "graciousness; especially the divine influence upon the heart, and its reflection in the life." And to me, being gracious is just being nice. My dad always said, my whole life, "You can never be too nice to people." And I know a lot of times I've fallen well short of that, but when you truly begin to understand that you are loved--and what it means to be loved--its easy to be nice. To everybody. Even though it seems like the more you love, the less you are loved. Because love doesn't do what it does in order to get something. Love does what it does because it has something to give. And giving without expectation--especially without expectation of getting anything--that's strong. That's being strong in grace. Letting the divine--God... love--influence your heart. Letting God love the hell out of you and loving the hell out of everybody you come into contact with. Now, despite what Hollywood would lead you to believe, strength is not about getting revenge. It is about forgiving and forgetting. It is about, really, turning that other cheek. So don't take it personally, even if it is. "But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive" (Genesis 50:20). When you're strong in grace you can let things play out. You can let people be who they are without trying to change them. You can love them anyway. Love them no matter what. Because, really, it doesn't matter how they intend things. What's that old saying? "It doesn't matter what tomorrow brings, when you know the One who brings tomorrow." Something like that. It doesn't matter if people are trying to harm you, because God means it unto good. "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose" (Romans 8:28). All things work together for good. But you have to be strong enough to endure to get to the good sometimes. Not all the time, and I might touch on that tomorrow, but sometimes you have to go through "this" to get to "that." That's strength. Tough times don't last, right? But tough people do. So keep that head up. Be strong in grace. Be strong in the divine influence (LOVE) on the heart and its reflection in the life!

When the day star arises in our hearts... Jesus shows up in us, and through us, and as us! Because He IS the day star. The bright and morning star. The sun (SON) that lights up the day. Now look at 1 John 3:2 through the lens of God living--and appearing--in us, and through us, and as us: "Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is." And I love where this verse starts; We ARE the Son(s) of God. Now. Already. Without doing anything to "get" it or "earn" it. The thing of it is, is that we don't always know what it looks like to BE the Son(s) of God. Sometimes we get mixed up with religious calisthenics. Or we stumble around in the dark, if I can put it that way. When I was young and (mildly) wild and crazy my dad always either said I was "going around the mountain" or "wandering in the wilderness." Point is, you can't be who you are unless you know who you are. That's where the light comes in. Shining on us, and in us, and out of us, and through us. Illuminating that glorious truth that says, "As He is, so are we in this world." As showing us HOW He is. So we can understand how--and who--we are. When Christ appears... he appears in us. He appears every time we act in love. That's when the Word is made flesh. Charity. Love in action. And that's when we see Him clearly. When a human loves another human... that's God. That's when we know what its all about. That's when we know why we're here--to be loved by God and to love Him back by loving each other. Receiving and releasing God's love is what its all about. And just in case you think that's the wrong order, remember: You can't give what you don't have. And you can only give what you do have. "We love him, because he first loved us" (1 John 4:19). And we love Him by loving each other. Whatever we do to the least of them, we do to the King, right? So now that we know--through the Holy Spirit--that God has filled us up with His love... we can fill ourselves to overflowing with that love. We can let what's inside come out. Naturally. We can let God love the hell out of us, and then we can let the love flow through us and love the hell out of each other. That's what happens when the day star--again, Jesus... love--arises in our hearts. Because I don't believe we can keep ANYTHING inside for too long. Much less the love of God, which is all powerful. Its too big. Too good. And the more we dwell ON God's love for us, the more we dwell IN His love for us. And that's when, one more time, it comes out of us. Naturally. The light doesn't struggle against the darkness. The light obliterates the darkness. Go into a dark room and turn the light on. There's no struggle. You're just not in a dark room anymore. You can see clearly. You can stop trying to PUT things into Divine Order when you SEE that things ARE already IN Divine Order. So let your light shine. Let love guide the way. See Jesus--love--clearly when He arises in your heart. Stop trying to follow in His foot steps and just let Him make His own foot steps with your feet. Stop trying to be someone you're not and just enjoy being who you are as God reveals your true self to you, and in you, and through you, and as you!