Consciousness part 4
The difference between being "self-centered" (or self-conscious) and "Christ-centered" (or Christ-conscious) is, in a word, love. It's the difference between being asleep and being wake. Being dead and being alive. Jesus said it like this, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life" (John 5:24). And notice this: "He that HEARETH my word." Jesus NEVER said, "If you don't accept me you're damned and you're going to die." Guys... we were already dead. We were dead in our trespasses and sins. Adam (representing all of humanity) ate of the tree of death. And only one thing could possibly come from that--death. Jesus didn't come to make "evil" people "good." He came to curse that whole tree of knowledge of good and evil and make it pass of the scene. He came to make dead people alive! He came that we might have LIFE and have it more abundantly. He came that we might have HIS life! On the cross Jesus gave His life FOR us, and He gave His life TO us. See, the truth will set you free (and make you free), but not unless you KNOW the truth. Remember that Paul spoke to the Corinthian church's shame because they KNEW the Word. Jesus said He that HEARETH the Word. Because faith comes from HEARING and hearing from the Word of God. We need to stop condemning people for what they're not aware of--a "sinner" is going to act like a "sinner" because they don't know any better--and we need to start waking people up to what is already true. Not trying to change people, but showing them the change that took place on the cross! And the best way--really the ONLY way--to make people aware of the change that took place on the cross is by sharing with them the gift that we've been given. The best way to show someone that "God loves them" is by YOU loving them. When you're conscious of God's love for you, it manifests THROUGH you. Because God's love is too big to hold inside. It overflows like a river of living water. When we know that we are loved--when we hear the Word... when we know and believe the love of Christ--we then begin to love. Because we then know the change that took place on the cross. We know that we ARE love! Being Christ-conscious means being love-conscious. Being aware--every day in every way--of the love that our Father has for us. That's why He gave us His Spirit, the love receptor. So that we might be able to receive and release the love that He has always had for us. So that we might receive it BY releasing it. Jesus, the light of the world, shined in our hearts so that we could see things clearly. So that we could see who WE are (by seeing who HE is), and see WHERE we are (the Kingdom, not the world), and see why we're here (to be loved and to love one another). So that we could truly live a life filled with love!