Being Human part 5
The theme we've kind of been working on lately is that we do not do in order to be. We do because we be. The lie that the serpent hissed into Eve's ear way back in the misty garden of Eden was that man had to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil in order to be like God. When the truth is: We were made in His image and likeness. We never had to do anything in order to be like God. We were always like Him. The problem was that it was dark out, and we couldn't see Him clearly. We thought He was a distant, angry, taskmaster of a God just waiting for us to mess up so He could get us. That's why, after eating from the tree of death, Adam and Eve hid from the presence of God. They were naked and ashamed. But man's nakedness has never bothered God. They were naked before they ate from the tree and He didn't care. It wasn't a problem until it was a problem... for us. And then God fixed that problem by clothing us with Lamb skin. With Himself. How awesome that He fixed a problem that didn't bother him, and that He didn't create. We messed up... and God cleaned up our mess for us. Kind of blows the whole "Once I clean up my act I'll get back to church" idea out of the water, eh? And here's where I want to end this Rant series: "That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works" (2 Timothy 3:17). See, it's not, "Do good works in order to be perfect." Our good works flow out of our (HIS, in us) perfection. We don't do in order to be. We do because we be. What's inside comes out. Or, rather, more accurately, what we believe is inside comes out. What you do flows from what you believe. If you believe you're a smoker, for example, at the end of the day that's who you're going to be. Because that's what you believe you are. It is impossible to be someone you're not. And while you can maybe, possibly, for a little while fake it... at the end of the day you are who you are. So it behooves us to find out who we are. Not to be someone we're not, but to know, and understand, and embrace who we really are. Which is who we are in Christ. Which is who Christ is in us. That's what it means to be human. That's why Jesus usually referred to Himself as the Son of man. He was fully 100% God... and fully 100% man. Jesus--God in the flesh. Love in a body. God in OUR flesh. Love in OUR body. And the love IN our body coming OUT. That's the key. Receiving and RELEASING. Letting God fill us up with Himself. His love. His Spirit. And then filling ourselves up to overflowing with what we've already been filled with. Looking in the mirror and seeing Jesus. Seeing ourselves. Our TRUE selves. The perfection of knowing and being known. Knowing who we are and being known for who we are. The true you. The human being that doesn't have to run around like a chicken with its head cut off trying to be something it's not and trying to get something it thinks it hasn't got. We can just be. We can let what's really inside (the love of God) flow out of us by simply knowing and believing that it (HE) is in there. We can let our perfection dictate our good works, instead of trying (and failing) to make it happen the other way around!