Connection part 4
They say opposites attract. And there IS some truth to that. But there's a lot more truth to similarities attracting each other. One of the first things we look for is, "What do we have in common?" We look that for that point of connection. That common ground. We look for something to build on. The Apostle Paul said it like this, "For other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is" (1 Corinthians 3:11-13). When we build on the Rock our house will stand. When we start with what we have in common and let that connect us--instead of starting with our differences and letting those separate us--we find that we're really a lot more similar than we think. And don't forget about the fire. You know... GOD (who IS the consuming fire). The fire is love. And love is what try's every man's work and reveals what it really is. So we start with the foundation of Jesus (love). And we build with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble... all of things that we individually bring to the party... and then the fire (love) purifies what we've done. It doesn't DESTROY what we've done. It doesn't burn it to the ground. It simply consumes everything except itself. HE simply consumes everything except HIMSELF. Love feeds on itself and gets rid of everything else. Alpha and Omega. We start with love, we end with love, and we realize that love is everything in between. Love is the glue that holds everything together. The world wants us on opposing sides of any and every issue. The world thrives on conflict and confusion. But God (love) is the God of peace. On the cross Jesus fought the war to end all wars. Which means there are no more wars to fight. Which means we can rest. We can stop trying to make other people in OUR image because we have been conformed to the image of God's Son! We can let what's right with us shine through instead of focusing on what's "wrong." And I'm telling you right now, when the Jesus in me lines up with the Jesus in you... that's when you and I line up with each other. Automatically. Naturally. The foundation (again, love) is strong enough to support all of us. There's room in the Ark, if I can say it that way. The ground at the foot of the cross is level. We're all in the same boat. God poured His Spirit out on ALL flesh. We're all in this together. We don't have to let anything separate us from each other, even as nothing can separate us from the love of Christ. Because love isn't just what we have. Love is what we do. Love is who we are! In a world where it's so easy to feel isolated... so easy to feel like no one understands... we need to stop building walls and we need to start building bridges. When Jesus said in His Father's house are many mansions He wasn't pulling an Oprah and saying, "You get a mansion! You get a mansion! Everybody gets a mansion!" As if we're all in different houses. The word means DWELLING PLACES. Because we all dwell in the same house. Daddy's house. Which is the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of Love. One house. One New Man. One foundation. Once point of connection. L-O-V-E love!