As He Is part 4
Our key verse for this Rant series is 1 John 4:17, "Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world." Today I want to focus on that phrase, "Herein is our love made perfect." And this is what I want to say about it: Wherein is our love made perfect? Herein. In the truth that as He is, so are we in this world. In the truth that there is absolutely no difference, no separation, between us and Jesus. It's not Jesus AND us, it's Jesus AS us. In Him we live and move and have our being. In us He lives and moves and has His being. His love is made perfect... in us. Because love isn't just a noun. Love is a verb. An action word. Loves needs two things: Someone to give it, and someone to receive it. And when we receive it, when we understand how love connects us and binds us and holds us together, that's when it's made perfect. Because God always has and always will love us. But before the cross we didn't know it. We didn't believe it. It seemed too good to be true and the best our carnal mind could come up with was an external law of behavior modification so that we could try to earn the love an acceptance of God. The problem with that, of course, is that love doesn't come from the outside-in. It comes from the inside-out. It comes from the heart. And that's why God circumcised our heart. He cut away the flesh of human effort--of trying to earn what can only be received--and revealed His heart beating with love in our chest. He got rid of the veil, and revealed Himself to us (by revealing Himself IN us and THROUGH us). He rolled away the stone of the Law and brought us into the Kingdom realm where peace rules and reigns. Where we can stop working (spiritually) and start resting. Where we can SEE Him as He is, and in seeing Him as He is we can BE Him as He is by letting Him be Himself in us. If you try to live Jesus' life you will fail and you will get discouraged. No matter how hard you try, there will always be one thing you lack. Nobody can live Jesus' life except Jesus. That's why He gave His life FOR us, and gave His life TO us on the cross. He made our love perfect by giving us His Spirit--the love receptor--so that we might know and believe the love of Christ. So that we might be able to receive it and release it. And THAT'S when love is made perfect. When we share what we've got. When we receive and release. When we receive BY releasing. When we understand that as He is, so are we. When we understand that He IS our life. We don't try to act like Him, because at BEST that's just an act. We BE transformed (into what we have already been transformed into) by the renewing of our minds. By LETTING the mind of Christ, that's already in us, BE in us. Not by trying to earn something, but by receiving what was freely given. Not by trying to be somebody we're not, but by embracing our true identity and being who we really are!