Cleansed part 1
This is tricky, but sometimes I try to tackle tricky subjects just because they ARE tricky. And because I tend to see things differently than most people do. So I try to provide a different perspective. As always, I'm not trying to say "I'm right, and you're wrong." I'm just trying to saw this is how I see it. This is what I think. As always, I don't write because I have it all figured out. I write in order to figure it out. So let's get some Scripture and I'll try to wander around and make my point. "Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God" (2 Corinthians 7:1). And on the surface it seems pretty simple, right? We're dirty, and we need to cleanse ourselves. We're not good enough, but if we try really really hard we can become good enough. The old saying, "God loves you just the way you are... but He loves you too much to leave you that way." Friends... I just don't see it that way. The way I see it is, "God loves you just the way you are." Period. And I will admit that He loves you SO much that He wants you to know the way you REALLY are. He wants to reveal your true self to you by revealing HIS true self to you. By revealing His LOVE to you. And in you, and through you, and as you. He's not waiting for you to cleanse yourself. Watch this: "Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me" (John 15:3). Now, I know Jesus was literally talking to His literal disciples over 2,000 years ago. But I believe He was speaking to all of humanity. He did what He did for all of us. When He was lifted up from the earth on the cross He drew ALL men into Himself. Point being--you ARE clean. That happened. And you didn't really have anything at all to do with it. You ARE clean because of the WORD that was spoken. The Word that said, "Let there be light." The Word that is Jesus. The Word that is love. Love is what cleansed us. And, as we learn what it means to love--by learning what it means to BE loved--THAT'S how we, in a sense, cleanse ourselves. We don't have to do anything except receive the truth about what has already happened. We don't have to somehow "get" better, as if we're not good enough. If we're starting out at "not good enough" how are we supposed to, in our own "not good enough" power, get better? I don't think we can. But the good news (the Gospel) is that we were created in the image and likeness of God. In the image and likeness of LOVE. So we don't need to "get better." All we need to do is learn what it means to be good enough already. Accepting that you've been cleansed... is how you cleanse yourself. Not focusing on the bad, even in the sense of focusing on it in order to get rid of it, but focusing on the GOD. And notice, I didn't say "good." I said, "God." Focusing on the love is the only way to let the love that's inside come out. Knowing that you've been cleansed is the only way to be clean. Clean living, right? A life of being loved by God and loving Him back by loving others with that same love. Receiving and releasing the cleansing, living, Word of love!