Beloved part 3
Don't get weirded out by this part. We are the Lamb's wife. Ok? So when I talk about intimacy (between husband and wife) it's ok. It's just a slightly different picture than the Father/Son love that I usually focus on. But I think it's important to understand all aspects of love. Because love is the solution to every problem. But different situations call for different applications. And I want to grab a piece of Matthew 11:28-30 in the MSG Bible, “Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.” Ready? "Come to me. Get away with me and you'll recover your life." The perfect getaway, right? A honeymoon between the Lamb and His wife where we learn how to really live. How to rest. When we learn how to LOVE by learning how we ARE loved. I talk about filling ourselves to overflowing with what we've been filled with, but really that's only possible when we know (and believe) that we have already been filled to overflowing! It's apprehending what we've been apprehended of. It's receiving (first) so that we have something to release. And it comes from intimacy with our beloved. Look at Song of Solomon 1:16, "Behold, thou art fair, my beloved, yea, pleasant: also our bed is green." First we see that He is appealing. Remember, it's the GOODNESS of God that leads men to repentance. When Eve saw the tree of knowledge of good and evil she saw that it was pleasing to the eye. She wanted it. It seemed like a better option. Unless you see a better option why would you ever move from where you're at? Eve was deceived though. The true better option is Jesus. Love. The more excellent way. But the grass always seems greener on the other side, right? Well... when you get away with your beloved you find that OUR bed is green. Not MY bed. Not HIS bed. OUR bed. And green there represents life. When God promised Abraham and Sarah a baby it was impossible for them alone. They needed HIM to produce the promise. He is the vine and we are the branches. He produces the fruit of the Spirit (which is love) and we bear it. We carry it to those who need it--which is everybody. But it comes from the source. WE don't make it happen. HE already made it happen. All we do is get away with Him. All we do is connect to the source. He is our beloved and we are His beloved. So we let ourselves BE loved. We let life come from OUR bed. OUR union, or marriage--which is two becoming one. No separation. It's not so much the Lamb AND His wife as it is the Lamb period. As He is, so are we in this world. I am my beloved's and He is mine because we are One and the same. Different parts of the same body but all One body. All One New Man!