All Things part 2
A lot of our problems in this life have to do with our pride. With that in mind I want to link two verses together in the hopes of helping us begin to UNDERSTAND everything we KNOW--which is all things. We have been given all things that pertain unto life and godliness. We have an unction from the Holy One and we know all things. We have what we need and we know what we need. Our pride gets in the way. Because there is a big difference between knowing it all and being a know it all. So look at Job 41:15, "His scales are his pride, shut up together as with a close seal." When you are close-minded, and think you have it all figured out, you won't let anything in. Your are shut up as with a close seal. Kind of like hardening your heart in order to "keep and guard" it. But the only real way to keep your heart is to keep it open. Keep it open to love. Let God love you and love Him back by loving the people you come into contact wiith. Now add this to that: "Instantly something like scales fell from Saul's eyes, and he regained his sight. Then he got up and was baptized" (Acts 9:18 NLT). When your pride falls off you can stop trying to do things your own way all the time. There is a way that SEEMS right to a man, but the ends thereof are death. God will let you go that way (to a degree) but that doesn't mean He wants you to. God, like any loving father, wants what's best for you. That's why He gave the best to you. He gave Himself to you. His Spirit. His Son. His life. His love. Just so that you could have it. Just so that you could experience Jesus' everlasting, eternal, abundant, Resurrection Life of love by letting Jesus live His own life in you, and through you, and as you. If you let the scales of pride fall off of your eyes you can see things clearly. You can let the Word (which is Jesus, which is love) be a lamp unto your feet and a light unto your path. You can be still and know that HE is God. You can begin to understand everything you know. Testing the height, and depth, and breadth, and width of God's love by loving people bigger and stronger than you ever thought you could. That's what this life is for. That's what this life is all about. So instead of trying to get something you think you haven't got (and robbing yourself of what you have got in the process) you need to simply stop trying. And that doesn't mean don't do anything. Rest is not inactivity. It is Holy Spirit directed activity. It is loving people (which is the maximum effort you can give) from a posture of rest. Letting the love inside flow out of you as you fill yourself to overflowing with what you've already been filled with. As you let God love you and love Him back by loving the people you come into contact with. That's the "all things." LOVE is the all things. All things that pertain to life and godliness? Love. All things that we know? God is love and He loves you. Where we get into trouble is when we think we don't need God. When we think we can handle it ourselves. Guys, God doesn't just want to be a part of your life. He wants to be your life. Because He IS life! So my best advice is to let Him. Let God not only be involved in every aspect of your life, but let God BE every aspect of your life. "And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men" (Colossians 3:23). Do it heartily. To the best of your ability, and because it's in your heart to do it. Do it as to the Lord. Don't worry about pleasing people. If you please the Lord you will be doing the right thing. Because love is pleasing to the Lord. That's what we know. And because we know it, we can do it. Because we BE it we can do it!