Bubbling Brook part 4
Everything acts according to it's nature. God set up this truth way back in the beginning. "And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so" (Genesis 1:11). In other words, seeds produce after their own kind. You can't plant an apple seed and expect oranges. Jesus said it like this, "Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire" (Matthew 7:17-19). And, unfortunately, we immediately go to the place of "good tree = good person. Bad tree = bad person." And we seem to forget that, "A garden inclosed is my sister, my spouse; a spring shut up, a fountain sealed" (Song of Solomon 4:12). And I can see how that might be interpreted corporately. Because together we are the Lamb's wife. The church. But I can see it very individually too. Which is to say... people are like onions. They have layers. There might be some corrupt trees in my personal garden. But thank God HE is the gardener who casts those (things, ideas, mindsets, actions, what have you) trees into the fire. And remember that GOD is the consuming fire. Fire isn't used to hurt us. It is used to PURIFY us. I said all that to say this: "For if the firstfruit be holy, the lump is also holy: and if the root be holy, so are the branches" (Romans 11:16). Jesus is the vine, or the root, and WE are the branches! HE is holy so WE are holy. HE is the incorruptable seed and can only produce after His own kind. The first among many brethren, right? So when we spend all of our time on a sin hunt, trying to get the sin out of the camp, what we miss is that the work is finished. I think humans are unique in our self-awareness. But also in our self-deception. With everything else, "It is what it is." With humans, "We are what we believe we are." That's how important faith is. Faith literally defines our reality for us. Everything we do flows from what we believe. We believe there is some value in what we're doing, and that's why we do it. And that's why it's so important for us to let the Holy Spirit--our love receptor--lead and guide us into all truth. The truth that God is love, and He loves you. The truth that the Father loveth the Son and hath given all things into His hands. The truth that we have everything we need already. Deep inside. Because when we know it's in there... when we know that we ARE loved... it comes out. Naturally. We CAN love. When we know and believe the truth, it bubbles up out of our innermost being. When we know our true nature--the Divine Nature of God... of love--we act according to that nature. Not trying to be someone we're not in order to get something we haven't got. But letting what's inside come out as we fill ourselves to overflowing with what we've already been filled with. When we stop looking for love in all the wrong places and simply look in the mirror. Look inside. When the wind of the Holy Spirit blows, it stirs things up in our hearts. It stirs up LOVE. And when love gets stirred up it manifests as charity: love in action! The Word becomes flesh and the river of living water flows out of us! We receive and release the love of God by letting Him love us and loving each other with that same love!