Complete part 3
We have to stop living from a false sense of lack. One of the best things I remember learning from my parent church is this: I have no lack, because my God has no lack. Jesus said it like this in the parable of the Prodigal Son, "“‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours"" (Luke 15:31). John wrote it like this in his gospel, "The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hand" (John 3:35). I know that sometimes it feels like there is a love-shaped (God-shaped) hole inside of us. Like we're always searching for something that we can never find. Something that's just out of reach. And we're even willing to work for it. Willing to earn it. The problem with that mindset, though, is that anyone who tries to enter the sheepfold any other way but through the door (Jesus is the door) is a thief and a robber. Robbing YOURSELF from experiencing the gift you've been given by trying to earn something that can't be earned. Trying to be someone your not instead of embracing who you are. Trying to get something you've already got. You ARE complete in Him. Because He is complete in you! I always bring up this example, but it's what really helped me to understand a Father's love: Logan doesn't beg me to share with him. He knows if it's mine, it's his. To the point where if I make myself a sandwich and then turn my back... he's eating what he considers to be HIS sandwich. And guess what: That doesn't bother me one bit. It makes me happy. Because what's mine IS his. And, to be honest, I'd rather my son be happy and satisfied then be happy and satisfied myself. Him being happy and satisfied MAKES me happy and satisfied. And that--like I was trying to say yesterday--is the key. When Jesus was hungry, and sent his disciples to get Him food, then in the meantime ended up ministering to the woman who had had five husbands and was living with the sixth man... when the disciples returned Jesus wasn't hungry anymore. He was refreshed. Not from taking anything from anybody, but from GIVING what He had! That's why I always preach about receiving and RELEASING. Giving what we've got. That's what love is. Love is giving. When I share with Logan, I know he feels loved and I feel love. I'm convinced that that's the best (only) way to truly feel the love of the Father--by loving others. And I'm convined that that's what faith is: When we love, it's the proof that we know and believe that we ARE loved! It's not a blind leap into the dark, or the light. It's Jesus telling us to step out of the boat, and us standing on His Word and not sinking! It's us knowing and believing that we ARE complete in Him. That we DO have everything we need because we have HIM. Loving each other... with the love that we are loved with! If you can't give what you don't have... but you "step out in faith" and love somebody... then on some level you know that that God-shaped, love-shaped hole has been filled with the only thing that can fill it! Which, of course, is God. Love.