Alive part 5
The secret of life is... living. It's knowing what you've got instead of constantly trying to chase what you think you haven't got. Its doing what Romans 6:11 says. "Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto usin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord." It's that reckoning. That understanding. That acceptance of the ultimate truth of the universe. Dead unto sin. Alive unto God. Alive unto LOVE. Guarding your heart by keeping it open. Not closing it down because you've been hurt and you don't wan to be hurt again. We've all been hurt. But if you shut down you miss out on what's available to you. You miss out on living. And that's what life is for. We were given this life so that we could live it. We were given this gift so what we could share it. Living is loving. Love is giving. Living is giving what we've got instead of running around like chickens with our heads cut off trying to get what we think we haven't got. Religion is such a trap because it forces you to be someone you're not in order to try to get something you think you haven't got. Something you already have. Something you already ARE. And therein lies the key: You already have what you need. You already are who you need to be. You don't need to--and can't--earn God's love. It is a gift that is freely given. Freely we have been given, freely we can give. By reckoning. By setting our affection. By putting ourselves and our emphasis where it belongs. And where it belongs... is on God. On love. What you magnify in your life is what will manifest in your life. What you feed is what will grow. What you focus on is what you will experience. If you're constantly focused on problems, all you'll have is problems. But if you focus on the solution--again, Jesus... love--you'll be able to get through everything you need to go through. When you're planted on the rock you cannot be shaken. When you're building on the foundation of love you can be sure that the building--or the bridge, if I can say it that way--will last. Jesus came that we might have life and have it more abundantly. Love is what makes life abundant. Love is what makes life worth living. And love is what makes life possible to live. 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. We need to understand the difference between life and death. We need to understand that we have passed from death unto life. We need to let go of all of the old... stuff that has been dragging us and holding us down. And we need to walk in newness of life. Reckon ourselves dead to sin... and alive unto God! Stop trying to "get" life and start to just ENJOY life. Experience and enjoy the gift we've already been given. We already have it. We don't need to "get" it. And we experience and enjoy it by giving it away. By sharing it. By laying our life down for our friends. By giving what we've got. And you can only give what you've got when you know what you've got. What's inside WILL come out--or, more accurately, what you BELIEVE is inside will come out. So make sure you know and believe that what's really in there... is in there. The love of God. The life of God. Fill yourself to overflowing with what you've already been filled with. Receive it and release it. Breathe it in and breathe it out. Love God and love people. Love God BY loving people. Live a life of love with every breath you take and every move you make. This life is worth living. So live it to the fullest. Live it in the way that your heavenly Father always wanted you to. Live it... in love. With love. Through love. Because of love. It's all about love!