Extravagance part 2
Receiving and releasing. That's kind of my mantra. That's the Divine Order of things. God has given us everything He has and everything He is. Because He loves us. The way of grace. Which we respond to with the walk of faith. And that's kind of what I want to talk about tonight: "Oh, the utter extravagance of this work in us who trust him--endless energy, boundless strength! All this energy issues from Christ: God raised him from death and set him on a throne in deep heaven" (Ephesians 1:19-20). Basically, it's about being blessed... to be a blessing. It's about taking what we are given, and then giving it away. Receiving it and releasing it. Breathing it in and breathing it out. The endless energy and boundless strength that God gives us... is for us to use. Rest is not inactivty, it is Holy Spirit directed activity. God doesn't give us things so that we can be hoarders. He gives us things so that we can enjoy them by giving them away. So that we can experience them by sharing them. So that we can receive them and release them. So that we can be extravagant with His extravagance! That's the point of the whole thing. Exceeding and abundantly above what we could ask or even think. The power of God working in us. And it's too big to just work IN us. We have to let it OUT of us. Receiving AND releasing. Giving what we've been given. Letting it out by knowing and believing that it's in there. Loving extragantly by letting God love us extravagantly. I think the most important part of the New Commandment is the "as I have loved you" part. God never expects us to do something that He doesn't first equip and empower us to do. He works in us so that we can work in Him. With extravagance. Endless energy. Boundless strength. Energy issued from Christ. His love in us. And through us. And as us. We let God fill us up with Himself--His love--and then we fill each other up WITH that love. Jesus came that we might have life, and have it more abundantly, right? And what makes life abundant? Love! A life of love is the only life worth living. Doing things for people out of the goodness and the love and the light that is in your heart. That's what Jesus did. That's what He showed His disciples. That's why He was able to say, "If you've seen me, you've seen the Father." Everything He did was from the heart. And that's what we are able to do now. As He loves us, so we ought to love one another. He HAS filled us up. He HAS (and will, and does) loved us with an extravagant love. And that means we can love each other with that same love. We can love God back with the same love that He has loved us with BY loving each other. We can enjoy the extravagance of God's love... by loving. That's how you experience God's love--by giving it away. By letting what's inside come out. By letting God love us bigger and stronger and harder than we ever thought possible... and by loving Him back by loving each other bigger and stronger and harder than we ever thought possible! Endless energy to love. Boundless strength to love. Extravagant love!