Deeper part 2
There's a line in my favorite song that says, "If His grace is an ocean, we're all sinking." And I think it's appropriate. Because we don't really seem to understand how deep His love for us is, even though we are literally surrounded by out. We are literally overwhelmed by it. We are drowning in it. But here's the key: Instead of trying (with our own futile human effort) to get to the surface, what we should be doing is drinking it in. What we should be doing is swimming deeper and deeper. I ended yesterday's Rant with the passage in Ephesians chapter 3 where Paul tells us what happens when we are strengthened (by the Holy Spirit) in the inner man. And what happens is that we are empowered to explore God's love for us. To test the height and the length and the depth and the width of His love--of His Kingdom. To be filled with the fulness of Christ. To experience and manifest what we have been filled with. To receive and release the love. I want to show you something a little bit different today from what we commonly refer to as the "Great Commission." Matthew 28:19, "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." Ok. Now check this out: The word, "baptizing" is number 907 in Strong's Greek Concordance and it means, "to make whelmed (that is, fully wet)." Now before I go any further let me be clear. I am NOT against water baptizing. I was water baptized, and it was an amazing experience for me. So I'm not saying anti-water baptism here. I'm just going a little bit deeper. Because what Jesus said we need to do is overwhelm people with the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Name means nature. And what, really, IS the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost? The Lord Jesus Christ! Because "Father" is not a name. It's a title. So what are we REALLY talking about? We're talking about overwhelming people with Jesus! With the Word of God (which is love). With the nature of Jesus. We're talking about overwhelming people with love! In our journey to get deeper and deeper into the heart of the matter (which is the heart), the most real way to do that is to "practice what we preach." If we want to experience love... we love. Not because we think we're earning it, but because if we release it then we believe that we've received it! You can't give what you don't have. And you can only give what you do have. So if you "step out in faith" and love somebody, if you baptize them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, what that means it that you know and believe that YOU have been baptized in that name! In that nature. In that love! How can explore God's love unless we share it? How can we get any deeper in Him unless we receive and release what we've already been given? And the best part is: The deeper we go, the deeper we CAN go! God's love (the God who IS love) is never ending. But we'll look at that tomorrow.