Beloved part 3
Its all about love. Everything--EVERYTHING--flows from love. Look at John 1:3, "All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made." Him, of course, being Jesus. The Word of God. Which is love. All things were made by love. And without love was not anything made that was made. Love is why God sent His only begotten Son. Love is why Jesus gave His life for us, and to us. Love is the whole point of the whole thing. So when we reject love we are robbing ourselves of... everything. When we make mistakes, and get burned, and refuse to come back near the fire... we miss out on the warmth. The glow. The purifying melting of our hearts. Because that's what the fire that is God (that is love) does; He consumes everything except Himself. Getting rid of everything tha doesn't belong and leaving the one thing that does. That's why its so vitally important that we guard our hearts by keeping them open. Open to love. Seeing ourselves the way Jesus saw Himself--as God's BELOVED Son. Because God loves everybody. He is love. That's not just what He does, that's who He is. In order for God to stop loving someone He would have to stop being God. And even if that was possible, He wouldn't do it. He loved you (and me, and everybody else) so much that He basically said, "I would rather die than live without you." He was on the cross with Christ reconciling you to Himself. Sending you His Spirit so that you might know and believe His love for you. So that you might be able to receive it. And in receiving it, release it. Experience it by giving it away. Jesus knew God as Father. He knew Himself as beloved Son. He had faith in God--in love--and He let Himself BE loved by God. He didn't try to earn it, and He didn't operate under the lie that He had to do in order to be. He did because He knew who He was. He loved because He knew He WAS loved. That's how it works: God has filled us to overflowing with His love, and because of that it (HE) comes out of us naturally. That's how we live in Christ--by knowing and believing that He lives in us. That's how we live. Because to live is to love and to love is to live. They don't just go hand in hand, they are the same thing. When Jesus preached He didn't talk about saving us from hell. He talked about saving us from our sins. Our unbelief. He is the Lamb of God who took away the sin of the world. He took away the unbelief of the world by giving us something--someONE, Himself, love--to believe in. That's why faith is so important... not because it saves us from some fiery torment someday after we die... but because it allows us to truly live. Right now. By knowing and believing that we are loved. Right now. And that there is nothing that can separate us from that love. Nothing that can separate us from the Father who (again) has already reconciled us back to Himself. He gave it all to show us that we are loved. And now, through the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth, our love receptor, we can BE LOVED. We can accept His love instead of trying to earn it. We can let God love us, and we can love each other with that love. Which is, by the way, the New Commandment. To love one another as Jesus loves us. To let what's inside come out. Naturally. By knowing and believing that its in there. By letting God love the hell out of us, so we can experience the days of heaven on earth!