Expression part 1
Logan and I like to make funny faces at each other. It cracks us up. Brings us both a lot of joy. In fact, the lock-screen on my phone is a picture of Logan pulling on the sides of his mouth and sticking his tongue out. It makes me smile every time I see it. Because he's expressing himself. The fun inside is coming out in a visible, tangible way. Guys... that's who we are for God. Look at John 4:24 and let me try to explain what I mean, "God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth." Let me say it this way: God ISN'T a man, but He LIVES in man. "For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring" (Acts 17:28). When I was meditating on this verse one time God told me that in Him WE live and move and have our being... and in US HE lives and moves and has his being. That's what it means to be the body of Christ. Whatever God does... He does it in and through and as US! We are His expression in this dimension. We are the vehicle in which He does what He does. And what does the God who is love do? He loves! Now listen, I'm not trying to say that when we love one another we are expressing God and when we don't love one another we're not. Because, believe it or not, wherever we are and whatever we're doing... we're expressing Him. Or rather, He's expressing Himself through us. In Him we LIVE. In Him we MOVE. In Him we HAVE OUR BEING. Every breath we take and every move we make. The word Spirit in the Bible literally means breath. The name of God, "Yaweh," is the sound of breathing. Jesus said it like this, "I and my Father are one" (John 10:30). Which I guess begs the question: What about when I mess up? What about when I don't do what I'm supposed to do? What about when, instead of expressing "good" I express "evil"? And my answer is two-fold. A. STOP JUDGING BY APPEARANCE! Good and evil were on the SAME tree. The tree of death. The fig tree of human effort that Jesus cursed, and caused to wither and die. Look at the story of Joseph: "But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive" (Genesis 50:20). Joseph was sold into slavery. Clearly evil, right? Well... not if you understand the bigger picture. In the bigger picture it was all part of the plan. So, again, stop judging by appearance and judge righteous judgment. And B. THERE IS NO CONDEMNATION IN CHRIST! Failing doesn't make you a failure. Mistakes don't define you. This life-long journey of discovering who we are (in Christ) as Christ reveals Himself to us and in us and through us is not a straight-line journey. It's got twists and turns. A good friend of mine says it like this, "A setback is really just a set up for a comeback." God is expressing Himself through His creation. He has filled us with Himself. With His Holy Spirit. And that Spirit is manifesting. What's inside is coming out. The LOVE inside is coming out. Jesus expressed His love to us when He laid His life down for us. But He didn't just give His life FOR us, He gave it TO us. He picked it back up again. And now HE can live HIS life through HIS body!