Extra Rant
Because this was a leap year, there's an extra Rant. (Hooray!) And I want use it to talk about what love is. I know, I know, it feels like that's all I ever do. But I want to literally define the word love. 1 John 4:8 says, "He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love." This verse, especially the last part, is quite literally what I base my whole ministry on. God is love. To me, it's that simple. When we're talking about God, we're not talking about some distant angry taskmaster who is just waiting to get us everytime we mess up. When we're talking about God... we're talking about love. And watch this: The word "love" is number 26 in Strong's Greek Concordance. It means, "affection or benevolence; specifically a love feast." Which, to me, is the perfect definition. A love FEAST. The only thing in the universe that can satisfy the hunger deep inside all of us. The only thing that can fill us up. And when we are filled to overflowing... it comes out of us. Naturally. Why do you think Jesus stands at the door and knocks, waiting for us to open up to Him so He can come in and sup with us? You are what you eat! When Adam ate from the tree of death (the tree of knowledge of good and evil) he died. When we eat from the Tree of Life, we eat the Fruit of the Spirit. Which is love. When we eat love--or receive the heavenly Father's love--we can share what we've got. Because we know and believe we've got something. We receive and release. We receive BY releasing. The Spirit and the bride say come. But they don't say, "Come... or else." They say, "Come and get it!" Everything we've ever wanted is available to us. We don't have to earn it--and in fact, we can't earn it--but it was freely given from a Father who loves His Son. When it was dark God said, "Let there be light." When we were void He filled us with Himself. When we were hungry He prepared a table for us in the midst of our enemies. A table of bread and wine. A table of lamb. He gave Himself for us, and He gave Himself TO us. Jesus said, "He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him" (John 6:56). He came to give us life, and that more abundantly. And He did that by fixing our diet. By cursing the fig tree--the tree of knowledge of good and evil--because it couldn't bear fruit, and showing us where the river of living water flows from. It flows from our innermost being. We don't just eat from the Tree of Life... we are PART of it! He is the vine and we are the branches! We don't just eat the fruit, we bear it. We carry it to those who need it. Which, by the way, is everybody. Everybody needs love. That's the universal human appetite. And if you don't know where to find it, you'll keep looking for love in all the wrong places. You'll run FROM God instead of running TO God. But if you know who He is--He is love--then you'll sit down in a posture of rest and enjoy the greatest meal ever prepared. The Love Feast.