Daddy-o part 4
"As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me" (John 6:57). Being adopted, or placed as a Son, means living by the Father. And I think it's important that we understand the difference between living FOR the Father, and living BY the Father. But first let's address the concept of "eating" Jesus. What you eat is a big theme in the Bible. Man got in trouble way back in the garden of Eden because they ate the wrong fruit from the wrong tree. So let's track this: Jesus IS the Tree of Life. And the Tree of Life produces the fruit of the Spirit. The fruit of the Spirit is love. So when we eat Jesus--His body and His blood, the bread and the wine--what we are really doing is eating (or filling ourselves) with love. That's what the word, "love" in 1 John 4:8, "...God is love..." means. It means, "love feast." The same six course meal (the Six Steps to the Throne; crucified, died, buried, quickened, raised, seated) that Jesus prepared for us in the midst of our enemies. Let me say it like this: You are what you eat. You eat love... fill yourself with what you've been filled with... and then what's inside overflows out naturally! Then you stop living FOR the Father, as if He's separate from you and giving you orders that you have to obey or else... and you start living BY the Father. You start to be about the family business. Not because you're trying to earn something, but because everything Daddy has is yours. That's one thing that I really pride myself on having taught my son. He knows he doesn't have to beg me for things. If I'm having a sandwich--for example--so is he. Because what's mine is his. There have even been times where I'm eating something, and I get up (even for a second!) and when I come back he has finished eating my meal. And let me make this as clear as I can make it: That doesn't upset me. It makes me happy. I don't want my son to be afraid of me. I want him to know that we're in this together. I want him to know I've got his back. And, "If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?" (Matthew 7:11). Now I'm not calling anybody evil... I'm simply saying that there's always a more excellent way. And the more excellent way is living BY the Father, rather than living FOR the Father. Letting Jesus live His own life in us, rather than us trying to live His life for Him. Nobody can live Jesus' life except Jesus. That's why He gave us His Spirit; so that His Spirit could join with our spirit and we could experience His life. We could experience the gift of eternal, everlasting, abundant, Resurrection Life as we call out, "Abba, Father." As we live BY the Father. As we live in the context of that Father/Son relationship. As we let God love us and love each other with that same love!