Eternal Life part 2
As simply as I can put it: Eternal life is an everlasting life-long journey into the heart of the matter. And the heart of the matter is God's heart beating with love in our chests. It is knowing the Father and the One whom He sent. Knowing that God is our heavenly Father, and knowng that we are His beloved Son in whom He is well pleased. It is NOT religion. It is RELATIONSHIP. It's not head knowledge--knowing ABOUT God--it is heart knowledge--KNOWING God. And we know Him from the inside out. The issues of life flow from the heart. Because LOVE flows from the heart. And it's all about love. Love is what makes life abundant. Love is what makes life worth living. Love is what makes living possible. Because to live is to love, and to love is to live. So when we're talking about eternal life... we're talking about eternal LOVE. We're talking about a love without end. An unconditional love that has nothing to do with your actions and everything to do with your identity. Nothing to do with what you do and everything to do with who you are. And who God is. When you know the Truth--and Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life--the truth sets you free and makes you free. Free FROM sin and free TO live. Free to love because you know that you ARE loved. Because you know that you are LOVE. You know that love lives inside you, and you know that it's too big to contain. You can't keep it to yourself. It's not too good to be true. That's what we thought before the cross (without the Holy Spirit). And that's why we tried to earn it. We didn't believe God could love us just as we are. So even though we were working to earn a living, we were killing ourselvse working. We were trying to earn something that is freely given, and can only be received. It's not too good to be true. It's so good it must be true! And it's TOO good to keep to ourselves. It's more blessed to GIVE than to recieve. But you have to receive first, so that you have something to give. Life isn't about getting. Because love isn't about getting. Love IS giving. And when you really understand how loved you are, you WANT to give it away. You want to share it. Because, again, it's too good to keep to ourselves. AND it's what everybody needs. So, as my pastor says, "If you know it, throw it." If you've got it, give it. A life of love--loving others as Jesus loves us--is the only life worth living. Love is what MAKES life worth living. It's the desire of the heart. And when we delight ourselves in the Lord He GIVES us the desire of our heart. Because He IS the desire of our heart. But if we look for love in all the wrong places, trying to earn it because we don't know that we already have it, we rob ourselves from enjoying it. When we try to be someone we're not in order to earn something we haven't got... we miss out on what we HAVE got, and we miss out on who we really are. We miss out on LIVING LIFE. Eternal, everlasting, abundant, Resurrection Life!