Basics part 3
Getting back to basics, for me, is kind of like the idea of centering yourself. Strengthening yourself in the Lord, if I can quote one of my favorite verses. Being still, and knowing that HE is God. That LOVE is God. Knowing that you don't have to do it all yourself, and you don't have to do it all... at all. Knowing that love will light the way. TRUSTING that love IS the answer, no matter what the problem is. Because sometimes it doesn't look like love will accomplish its (HIS) goal. You have to put your trust in GIVING, instead of GETTING. And watch this: "So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it" (Isaiah 55:11). God said His Word (which is Jesus, which is love) will accomplish what HE pleases. See, we use this idea of love sometimes because we think it will get something for us. "I'll scratch your back so that you'll scratch mine." But God showed His love for us by dying for us (and as us) when we had nothing to offer Him. When we were dead in our trespasses and sins He gave us life. HIS life. The abundant, everlasting, eternal, Resurrection Life of God. Life of love. Because love is what makes life abundant. That's basic. That's a foundation stone. That's one to build on. Start with love and see what happens. Don't use love (or prayer) as a last resort. If you feel like you're down to your last resort... use love. Pray. But if you START with the good stuff, you might miss out on some of the bad stuff. You might not have to wander around in the wilderness for quite as long, if I can use one of my dad's favorite analogies. We can make things easier for ourselves... and for others... by getting back to basics. Letting go of some of the things that we probably didn't need in the first place, and certainly don't need to be holding onto. I love that picture of a hand holding a rope. And when it finally lets go you can see the rope burn the hand got by refusing to let go. Point being, sometimes we do more damage by holding on. Sometimes we think something is better than nothing. And that's why we're so eager to settle so much of the time. We think, "Well, it probably won't get any better, but hopefully it won't get any worse either." We try to maintain the status quo. But, while I'm ALL about letting people be who they are (instead of who we think they should be) and giving people space to learn and grow, there are some things we should not stand for. How's that old song go? "You've got to stand for something or you'll fall for anything." And its only by standing FOR the right thing--as opposed to standing AGAINST things--standing ON that Rock that supports us, that we CAN stand firm. If we're planted on the Rock we will not be shaken. So we need a strong foundation. We need the basics. And we need to, as I said before, major on the majors and minor on the minors. We need to focus on what's important and let the rest of it go. We need to stop running around like chickens with our heads cut off, looking for love in all the wrong places, and we need to be still and know that God is in control. We need to get back to basics.