All Things part 1
There are two main topics I want to discuss in this Rant series. One is 1 John 2:20, "But ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things." And the other is2 Peter 1:3, "According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue." And I think these two memory verses kind of go hand in hand. We know all things, and we have been given all things. We have an unction, and we know through the knowledge of Him. To me, it's the idea of looking into the mirror with an open face, seeing the glory of the Lord, and being changed into that same image from glory to glory. Starting and glory, and then coming into an understanding of what that glory IS. Being created in the image and likeness of God (in the beginning) and then coming into the knowlege of what that image and likeness is by being conformed into the image of God's beloved Son in whom He is well pleased (on the cross). It's about "becoming" who you are by learning who you are. Learning who you are by learning who God is. Learning how to love by learning how you are loved. Receiving and releasing the love of God. Letting Him love the hell out of you and then loving Him back by loving the people you come into contact with. The unction from the Holy One is the ultimate truth of the universe. It is the Rock, the foundation, that everything else is built on. And that ultimate truth of the universe is, quite simply, that God is love and He loves you. It is the truth found in John 3:35 (NLT), "The Father loves his Son and has put everything into his hands." We have, quite literally, been given all things that pertain to life and godliness. Because God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. The things (or THING, singular) that pertains to life and godliness... is love. God is love. To live is to love and to love is to live. They aren't just connected, they are the same thing. So in order to KNOW--with a knowledge that passes knowledge--what we already know... we must receive and release His love. I always say, "When you don't know what to do, do what you know. Love people." Love is always the answer. Love is what everybody needs. Either way, Christ's love controls us. Either we don't know that we are loved and we do everything we do in order to get that love that we think we don't have, or we do know that we are loved and we do everything we do in order to share that love with the people we come into contact with. See, it's one thing to know all things. It's another thing to understand what you know. That's the rub. That's the key. And, look, you can't believe something you don't know. Faith comes from hearing, and hearing from the Word (which is Jesus, which is love) of God. Being a disciple of Christ is being a student of love. Again: Learning how to love by learning how we are loved. Letting God show us who He is, and in that way letting God show us who WE are. Look at 1 John 3:2 (NLT), "Dear friends, we are already God's children, but he has not yet shown us what we will be like when Christ appears. But we do know that we will be like him, for we will see him as he really is." We know who we are. We know all things... all things that pertain to life and godliness... but we need to come into an understanding of what we know. We need to see HIM as He is so we can see OURSELVES as we are. Then we can stop trying to be someone we're not (in order to try to get what we think we haven't got) and we can simply be who we are. Who we really are. Which is who we are in Christ. Which is who Christ is in us!