A More Excellent Way part 2
"I have shewed you all things, how that so labouring ye ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive" (Acts 20:35). There's a way that seems right to a man. And that way is getting getting getting, earning everything we have by the sweat of our brow. But the end of that way is death. It's literally a dead end. And then there's a more excellent way. And His name is Jesus. His name is love. See, it feels like there's a hole inside of us. It feels like something is missing. And most of us spend all of our lives trying to fill that hole. Trying to GET something, because we are always operating from a place of lack. But here's the situation: the hole is God-shaped. Love shaped. And that hole was filled on the cross when we were filled with the Holy Spirit. And listen, I'm not saying God all of a sudden started to love us after Jesus finished the work on the cross. He always has loved us and He always will love us. He IS love. What I'm saying is that because of the Holy Spirit (our love receptor) we can now receive the love that was always there. Once we were blind, but now we can see. Once God's love seemed too good to be true, but now we know that it is so good it must be true. But here's the rub: The Kingdom economy is not about what you have. It's about what you DO with what you have. God blessed us... to be a blessing. He loves us (in large part) so that we can love one another. That's how we love God; by loving one another. And that's why Jesus said it's better to give than to receive. Because as important as it is to receive--and don't get me wrong, it's vitally important--that's not the be-all, end-all. We don't receive simply to receive. We receive so that we can release. We are the spout where the glory comes out. God poures it into us, and then it flows out of us. Love is giving. I've heard it said that you can give without loving, but you can't love without giving. Love isn't about what you're trying to get. Love is about sharing what you have. And that's excellent. Because if you're sharing what you have then you KNOW what you have. See, I'm convinced that the most real way to receive the love of God is to release it. Rather than waiting until we "feel" loved and then going from there, we ought to focus on others and not on ourselves. And watch this: If I'm focused on you and you're focused on me then neither one of us have to focus on ourselves! And, again, that's excellent. Love is all about what you can do for others. It's all about supporting the weak. Bearing one another's burdens. Esteeming others higher than yourself. But that's impossible to do if you're trying to get something. You can't give what you don't have. You have to know that you ARE loved before you CAN love. But in order to really know that you are loved... you have to love. That's what faith is. It's believing what is true. And faith without works is dead. So in order to really believe that we are loved... we love. In order to receive... we release. We love each other with the love that we are loved with!