Beloved part 4
To completely identify with Jesus--our true identity, God in the flesh, love in a body--is to know that we are God's BELOVED Son in whom He is well pleased. To know that as He is, so are we in this world. To stop trying to be someone we're not and rest in the truth of who we are. And guys, that's why we're here. We're here to be loved and to love. To receive and release the love of God. To love one another as Jesus loves us. To let ourselves BE loved, and to love each other with that same love. That's our purpose. That's our calling. That's what life is all about. To live is to love and to love is to live. You can't have one without the other because they are the same thing! Love is what makes an abundant life abundant. Love is what makes life worth living. In sports they say winning isn't everything, it's the only thing. But we know that since Jesus--again, God in the flesh, love in a body--is Alpha and Omega, first and last, beginning and end... we know that love is the only thing AND love is everything! It's all about love. And that's what Jesus came to show us. Jesus said, "Greater love can no man have than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends" (John 15:13). He TOLD us what love is all about. And then He went to the cross and did that very thing. He literally laid His life down for us. He TOLD us what love is, and then He SHOWED us what love is. He gave His life FOR us, and He gave His life TO us. So that we could have it. So that we could experience it. So that we could share it with each other. Adam was God's son, but he didn't believe Daddy loved him. He (and when I say "he" I'm including Adam and Eve together) swallowed the serpent's lie that says you have to do in order to be. Get enough knowledge about good and evil so you can stop doing evil and do good and be like God. What Adam should have said was, "I'm already like God. I'm made in His image. I don't have to do in order to be. I can do BECAUSE I be!" But Adam didn't have the Holy Spirit. He didn't know what HE was like because he didn't know what God was like. As soon as Adam sinned (which is unbelief, believing the lie instead of the Truth) he hid from the presence of God. He thought God was mad AT him. He didn't know that God was mad ABOUT him. And from that time until the appointed time of the cross man stumbled around in the dark trying to get something he already had. Trying to earn something that was freely given and could only be received. That's what the Holy Spirit is. He is the Spirit of truth. Our love receptor. That still, small voice inside of us whispering, "The Father loveth the Son and hath given all things into His hands." Whispering, "Daddy loves you. You are His beloved Son in whom He is well pleased." And that's the difference between Adam and Jesus. Jesus knew who He was. Jesus let Himself BE loved, and He loved others with that same love. He received the gift of God and released it to those He came into contact with. He didn't try to be someone He wasn't... because He knew who He was. Remember yesterday we talked about that honeymoon period where we get away with God and let Him fill us up to overflowing with His love? That's how we learn HOW to love. By learning how we ARE loved. That's how we learn to live. Not by trying to live Jesus' life, but by letting Him live His own life in us, and through us, and as us!