Believeth part 3
Once you know something, you can believe it. You can put it into action. You can experience. And since we're talking about love (when aren't we?) we're talking about charity. It drove me nuts that the Apostle Paul used that word in the famous "love chapter" of 1 Corinthians 13. "Why not just say 'love'?" I would ask all the time. And then it hit me. Charity is love... in action. Love isn't just an idea. It's a Word. But it's a Word THAT BECAME FLESH. A Word that dwelt among us. And now it is (He is) a Word that dwells within us. Remember one of my favorite song lyrics? "What you got if you ain't got love? The kind that you just want to give away..." That's the thing about love. When we (mistakenly) think we don't have it, we'll do anything for it. We'll look for love in all the wrong places and get into all kinds of trouble trying to get it the wrong way. Because any time you try to earn a gift you're doomed to fail. By definition a gift can't be earned. It is freely given and it must be received. Which is where the Holy Spirit comes in. That Spirit of Truth that leads and guides us into all truth. Leads and guides us into the ultimate truth of the universe, that the Father loveth the Son and hath given all things into His hands. That Daddy loves us. And that nothing can separate us from that love. When we KNOW that--with a knowledge that passes knowledge, a heart knowledge instead of a head knowledge--that's when we can rest. When we know that Jesus sweated great drops of blood to redeem us from the cursed dimension of forced labor (or slavery, or bondage), we can stop trying to earn our bread by the sweat of our brows. We can start to understand what all these pictures of food in the Bible are all about. Psalm 23:5 says, "Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies..." Revelation 3:20 says, "Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me." Basically, "And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely" (Revelation 22:17). God is love. And that love is a love feast. Jesus did the work and prepared the table. He stands at the door and knocks. The Spirit and the bride say, "Come." And they don't say, "Come... or else." They say, "Come and get it." Because it's all ready for us. It's available to us. It was the Father's good pleasure to give us the Kingdom. He gave us His only begotten Son. So that we might know and believe the truth... and that the truth might set us free, and make us free. You can't do much with a truth you don't know. It's still true, but it's not true to you. Not until you know it and believe it. And after the Spirit and the bride say come... he that heareth says come! That's what being a witness is. Share your experience. Don't try to scare someone straight. And don't try to convince someone of something that you don't really believe. People can tell the difference between real and fake. And people are desperate for the real. Desperate for it. So if we have it... we ought to share it. We ought to give away what we've got. Because it's too good to keep to ourselves. We believe we have been filled to overflowing, and what's inside comes out naturally!