Declare the Decree part 1
So many times I have had people ask me things like, "What am I supposed to do?" "What's this life for?" "What's my purpose?" And, to be completely honest, those are the same questions I asked for a long, long time. It is, in my opinion, part and parcel to the human condition to have that search for meaning. "Ok, I was created. I was given this life that I never asked for. Now what?" Well, let me say it the way I usually say it and then we'll look at it in a few different ways. What I usually say is, "This life is for living." Which seems a little simple, maybe. But it's not until you understand that living and loving are not just connected, but are, in fact and in truth, the same thing that life starts to make sense. We always think it's about getting. About "Whoever dies with the most toys wins." When it's really about giving. Because love is giving. Giving everything that you have and everything that you are. That's what love is. That's what life is. That's what it means to receive and release the gift that God has given us. See, on the cross Jesus didn't just give His life FOR us. He gave His life TO us. So that we could experience it as He lives His own abundant, everlasting, eternal, Resurrection Life of love in us, and through us, and as us. Life is for living. Which means life is for loving. Receiving and releasing the love of God. Now look at Psalm 2:7, our key verse for this Rant series, "I will declare this decree: the LORD hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee." Receive and release. Declare the degree. The truth has set us free, right? Set us free and made us free? That happened. Because the truth--the ultimate truth of the universe--is that God is love and He loves you. And being loved is what equips and empowers us--frees us--to love. To live. But it's the truth we KNOW (and believe) that really allows us to experience that freedom. Because if you're free but you don't know it, you'll just keep on acting like you're not free. Because you don't know any better. Because you're used to it. You've settled for "how things are" with no hope that there is a more excellent way. What I'm trying to say is: Faith comes from hearing, and hearing from the Word (which is Jesus, which is love) of God. The decree that we declare is not one that we make up. It is one that we hear. It is the same decree that Jesus heard when He was baptized. "You are my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased." That, again, is the ultimate truth of the universe. The Father loveth the Son and hath given all things into His hands. God is love and He loves you. He has given all things into YOUR hands. We have everything we need. We know what the decree says. So in order to, in a sense, empower that decree... what do we do? What's this life for? What's it all about? We declare it! We confess that truth. We give what we've got. We receive it and release it. We act as witnesses to the glory of God. We share that glorious truth about who we are--about who GOD is--with each other. And in that way we edify each other. We build each other up. Help each other. Support each other. Love each other. What am I supposed to do?" Let God love you and love Him back by loving people!