Eternal Life part 3
Life is about living. And eternal life is about living in the context of the unconditional love relationship between Father and Son. It's not living "for" God, as if He's our boss. That's not what being placed in the family business means. It's about partaking of the Divine Nature. Not trying to live Jesus' life. Nobody can do that except Jesus. It's about letting Jesus live His life in you, and through you, and as you. Look at what Jesus said in John 14:10 (NLT), "Don't you believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words I speak are not my own, but my Father who lives in me does his work through me." It's an outworking of an indwelling Spirit. It's what's inside coming out, naturally. Look at the end of Philippians 2:12-13, "...work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure." Did you catch that? "We" work out what's in there... but it's really God working in us. He gives us the will and the power to do. He gives us the want to, and the ability to. He doesn't demand from us anything He hasn't first provided for us. We aren't working FOR Him. He's working IN us. It's not, "Do what I say, or else." It's, "Trust in me. I know what's best for you." It's not religion. It's relationship. It's not killing yourself trying to make a living. It's enjoying the gift you've been given. And make absolutely no mistake: Eternal life is the GIFT of God. It can't be earned. It was freely given. And it must be received, but only so that we can give it away. Receive and release. If you know it, throw it. If you've got it, share it. Look at Philippians 2:12 in the NLT, "Dear friends, you always followed my instructions when I was with you. And now that I am away, it is even more important. Work hard to show the results of your salvation, obeying God with deep reverence and fear." We don't work in order to BE saved. We work because we ARE saved! Faith without works is dead, right? Christ in you is the hope of REVEALED glory. The glory is already there. It's not just what we have... it's who we are. But until we know and believe who we are we'll always try to be someone we're not. Because we think we're not good enough. We buy into the lie that says, "you have to do in order to be." When in fact we do BECAUSE we be. Your actions flow from your beliefs. That's why behavior modification doesn't work. That's why religion doesn't help anybody. The Law of Moses demanded perfection without being able to produce it. All it could do was point out what you did wrong. Jesus didn't come to show us what was wrong with us. He came to show us what was RIGHT with us. He came to show us who we really are by showing us who God really is. He came to give us a gift. He gave His life FOR us, and He gave His life TO us. He came that we might have LIFE and that more abundantly. He came that we might know that we are loved, and love each other with that same love. That's what eternal life is all about! It's all about love!