Calling All Saints part 1
That's an ironic title, because in this Rant series I'm not calling anybody to do anything. I'm simply trying to help us understand what our calling is. In fact, I think we get into trouble when we hear a rallying cry and try to meet a need that isn't natural for us to meet. When we try to be someone we're not. And, listen, I understand stretching yourself. I understand that sometimes you have to go out on a limb--that's where the fruit is. But I also know that if you're trying to be someone you're not, and do something you can't, you'll meet a lot of frustration and heartache. Even with the idea of giving. I've been to some churches where if you don't tithe regularly you're not really a member of the church. My thought on giving is: If you like it, get behind it. Don't feel obligated. Never feel obligated! The only debt we owe each other is love. God loves a CHEERFUL giver. Not a grudging one. Everything we do must flow from the heart. Because that, friends, is who we really are. The inner man. The hidden man of the heart. And when we do what we do because it's in our heart to do it... that's when the hidden man is no longer hidden. That's when the light within us shines OUT of us. And nobody can tell you what's in your heart. Remember when we talked about wisdom? Where the head and the heart meet? Where things line up in Divine Order because we've stopped trying to make them line up in our idea of order? That's rest. That's the flow. And that's our calling. Let me quote Ephesians 4:1 in the NLT. "Therefore I, a prisoner for serving the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of your calling, for you have been called by God." Notice the key word there. It's not "calling." It's LIFE. Because, bottom line, we have been called to live. Jesus came to give us life, and that more abundantly. He didn't come so that we could struggle and fight and try as hard as we can to be someone else. That was the Law of Moses--demanding perfection without being able to produce it. Jesus nailed all of that to the cross because it was contrary to us. Against us. Man cannot function inside a rigid set of rules. So Jesus replaced the Law of Moses with the Perfect Law of Liberty. He gave the room and the space to operate. To be ourselves. To create. I Ranted on this idea quite a while ago, but let me put it here in a nutshell: God is the Creator. We were created in His image. We THINK this means, "Creator and creation." But really it means, "Creator and creator." God made everything from Himself. You can't make something out of nothing. God is love. God made everything out of LOVE. And that's our calling; to be loved, and to love one another. Love and loved... Love and love. The flow is God's love flowing into us, and through us, and out of us. That's WHY we were created. To be an expression of His love. To love others as He loves us. That's our true calling. That's why we're here. And for the couple of days that's what we're going to look at: Living our lives as our true selves. Leading lives worthy of our calling. Being who we are and loving how WE can love!