Complete part 5
Here's my thought for today, and really for this entire Rant series: God shows our completeness (HIS completeness) to us by showing us His love. To me, that's what it MEANS to be complete. To be lacking nothing. It means knowing and believing we are loved. That's why we feel incomplete, isn't it? Because we feel a love-shaped (God-shaped) hole inside us? Because in the beginning we were dark and void and without form. Which is not to say that God didn't love us in the beginning. Of course He did. He IS love. What else could He do? But when it's dark you can't see clearly. Which is why God spoke the Word. He said, "Let there be light." He gave His only begotten Son. He revealed Himself to us, and in us, and through us. He didn't take "evil" people and make them "good" so that He could love them. The rain falls on the just and the unjust alike. He created us--ALL of us--so that He could express Himself to us, and in us, and through us. He created us... to love us. He didn't come to make "evil" people "good" so that He could love us. He came to make dead people alive so that we could KNOW that He loves us. He gave us His Spirit--the love receptor--not to empower us to jump through hoops and earn love, but as the Spirit of Truth that would lead and guide us into all truth! Grace isn't the divine power to keep the Law. Grace is the divine influence on the heart, and it's reflection in the life. Grace is that still, small voice coming from the inside whispering the ultimate truth of the universe. Because grace is found in the eyes of the Lord. And the ultimate truth of the universe is that you're the apple of Daddy's eye and He loves you unconditionally! The ultimate truth of the universe is that the Father loveth the Son and hath given all things into His hand. The ultimate truth of the universe is that you ARE complete in Him. You HAVE BEEN quickened together WITH Christ. He gave His life for you and He gave His life TO you. You can't be any more perfect than having the perfect One (Jesus) living in you, and through you, and as you. And perfect love casts out fear. Fear of rejection. Fear of not being good enough. Fear of "no one will ever love me." Adam and Eve's problem is they were made in the image of God but didn't know what that image was. It took the cross for us to be CONFORMED into the image of God's SON. He revealed Himself to us. Revealed His LOVE to us. And that love, in a sense, transformed us. That love freed us from the bondage of sin and death. That love--again, in a sense--completed us. What's that line from that movie? "You complete me." That's what God's love did. Or rather, His Spirit REVEALING that love to us. Why are we complete in Him? Because He loves us. What does it mean to be complete? It means we are loved, and we can love one another with that same love!