Exercise part 4
Exercise helps you grow. Exercising your faith helps you grow in faith. And in grace. And in mercy. And in love. Ephesians 4:15, "But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ." Growing up in all things. By speaking the truth in love. How do we exercise our faith? Testifying of God's love. Receiving and releasing the gift we've been given. Its almost like on the job training. The more you love people, the more you learn HOW to love people. And, yes, some times there will be missteps. You will try things that don't work out. But that's ok. Its that process of learning and growing. Making mistakes and learning from them. I'm a big believer in the idea that you have to do things wrong before you can do them right. Nobody is an expert at everything. And very rarely is anybody an expert in the beginning. We have to learn. We have to grow. Grow up into HIM in ALL things. I did a Guerrilla Gospel video today about doing things heartily, from the heart. About doing things because they are in your heart to do it. Doing things as an expression of love. Charity is love in action, right? Exercise is walking by faith... by walking. Letting the rubber meet the road. Putting your money (or your effort) where your mouth is. Not just telling people you love them, but showing them. God is love. God is light. Love is light. Shining that light that we have--that we ARE--so that people can see. So that people can see love. So that people can see God. I love the part in the Bible where Jesus tells Phillip, "If you've seen me, you've seen the Father." Because what did people see when they looked at Jesus? A human--like you and me--that loved people. That's who the Father is. God is love. I think I already said that, but it bears repeating. And love is an action. Love needs to be expressed in order for it to actually exist. That's why God created us; He needed to express Himself. To us, and in us, and through us, and as us. It takes two to tango, so to speak. Someone to love and someone to be loved. And I really think that's the part humans struggle with the most: We don't think we deserve to be loved. We look at all the things we've done wrong, all our mistakes, bad decisions, and we think, "nobody could possibly love me." We pick flower petals and we hope and pray that we'll end up on "He loves me" instead of "He loves me not." But that's not how it really is. Not at all. We just need faith. And we need to exercise our faith. We need to let the Spirit of truth lead and guide us into all truth. The truth that God is love and He loves you. Faith like a mustard seed, right? Small in the beginning, but it grows into the biggest tree of all. The Tree of Life. Which bears the fruit of the Spirit. Which is love. Start small. Yes. Fine. But start. Don't expect to have it all figured out. Don't even necessarily try TO figure it out. Let God reveal it to you. As He reveals HIMSELF to you. As He reveals YOURSELF to you. Who you really are. Which is who you are in Christ. Which is who Christ is in you!