Conventional Wisdom part 5
I think one of the biggest challenges we have to experiencing the gift of God (that we've already been given) to the fullest is that almost everything about this everlasting, eternal, abundant, Resurrection Life of God (life of love) challenges just about everything we've ever been taught. The Kingdom of God really does have an upside down backwards economy. The last is first and the first is last. Those who humble themselves will be exalted, but those who try to exalt themselves will be... is squashed too harsh of a word? Put down? Point being: If you try to do it yourself it won't work. But if you let God do it it can't fail. Because love never fails. Remember Proverbs 3:6? "In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths." But conventional wisdom says, "Work hard, get what you can, whoever dies with the most toys wins." And I'm not saying you shouldn't work hard. Paul wrote, "For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat" (2 Thessalonians 3:10). So the point is not "don't work hard." The point is, work hard from a posture of rest. Good things take time, and they take hard work. Realizing the Kingdom that has already been built, and established... MANIFESTING that Kingdom... can feel like a lot of work. Because charity is love in action. The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us. Every time we act out in love the Word is made flesh in us. Through us. As us. What am I trying to say? I'm trying to say its not about working in order to get something. That's wages. And the wages the Bible talks about are the wages of sin being death. (Not hell, by the way, but I'll leave that alone for now.) So we're not working in order to get something. We're working because we have something. Something so good that we just want to give it away. Something too good to keep to ourselves. And that, of course, is the point. Its foolish to give away the gift you've been given. But that's what love is: Giving everything you have and everything you are. Laying your life down for your friends. And understanding that we're all in this together. That we're all friends, whether we know it or not. We are all parts of the same body. Different parts, to be sure, but one body. And that flies in the face of everything we "know." But watch this: "Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give" (Matthew 10:8). You were given a gift. For free. Give it away. For free. And look at what Jesus mentioned: Healling, raising, casting out. He wasn't anywhere near material possessions. He wasn't anywhere near what we seem to think is so important. He said it in another place like this, "Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone" (Matthew 23:23). The things we think are so important... kind of aren't. And the things (the THING) that is really important... is love. It might seem foolish, but its true. Its all about love!