Builded Together part 1
Jesus was a carpenter, right? I think that's important. Because out of all of the professions in the world... our Lord and Savior was someone who built things. We think of God as an angry, distant diety sitting on a cloud waiting to strike us down. But that's the opposite of reality. Because in reality, all He has ever wanted to do is build us up. Show us who we really are--by showing us who HE really is--so that we can stop trying to be someone we're not and BE who we really are. Who we really are in Christ. Which is who Christ is in us. Now watch this, because this is my focus for the next few days: We are the house that Jesus built for Himself to live in. Ephesians 2:19-22, "Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God; And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit." I know there's a lot there, but we're going to unpack it. And I want to start at the end and work my way to the beginning. The word "habitation" is number 2732 in Strong's Greek Concordance and it means, "A dwelling place." To me this connects directly to 1 John 4:16, "And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him." We are the house that God lives in. The house that LOVE lives in. You can't live without loving because they are the same thing. You can't dwell in God without dwelling in love because they are the same thing. But the key is not US trying to dwell in HIM. The key is understanding that HE dwells in us. We love because He first loved us. You can't give what you don't have, right? So God had to first give us love if He wanted us to be able to give Him love (by giving love to each other). God has never expected anything from us that He didn't first supply. He wanted a house to live in... so He built one. And you're looking at it when you look in the mirror. When you look at your neighbor. One more memory verse to build the foundation of this Rant series: "Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit" (1 John 4:13). That whole passage in 1 John 4 is worth a read, but I want to really hit home the fact that we live in Him... because He lives in us. In Him we live and move and have our being. And the reverse of that is also true. In US He lives and moves and has HIS being. There is no separation between us and God. No separation between us and love. As He is, so are we in this world. As LOVE is, so are we in this world. Love lives inside us. And He comes out of us as we know and believe that He's in there. As we let Him love us. We are His house. He built us (together... all of us) to HIS specifications. Getting rid of things that didn't belong, or didn't fit, so that we might be fitly framed together. But, again, I plan on getting into all of this. So stay tuned!