Family Business part 3
Being about our Father's business. Which is love. Receiving and releasing the love of God that He has already given to us. That's how we experience this everlasting, eternal, abundant, Resurrection Life of love that is the gift of God. Let me say it another way, "And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation" (2 Corinthians 5:18-19). And did you catch the part where God did all the work and then gave us the ministry by giving us the word? We don't go into business for ourselves, or by ourselves. We simply take our inheritance and spread it on! We don't have to reconcile people to God. He already did that. That's what the cross was. When Jesus was lifted up from the earth, on the cross, He drew us all into Himself. And He planted Himself in us all. That's a done deal. He HAS reconciled us to Himself. That doesn't need to happen. That already happened. So what we do is we spread the gospel. The good news. We tell people what is true by telling them the truth! The ultimate truth of the universe that says, "God is love and He loves you." Not, "You have to do this, that, and the other thing in order to earn God's love." That's not truth. That's the lie that the serpent whispered into Eve's ear. That's what got us into so much trouble in the first place. "Here it is in a nutshell: Just as one person did it wrong and got us in all this trouble with sin and death, another person did it right and got us out of it. But more than just getting us out of trouble, he got us into life!" (Romans 5:18 MSG). And not just into life... into HIS life. Remember when we talked about being an heir but needing to be mature? That's what it means to be about our Father's business. Taking the reins of the family business. Taking what our heavenly Father has established, and moving forward with it. Taking the ball and running with it. Letting God love us (wich comes first, and is to vitally important) and then loving Him back by loving others. Receiving and releasing His love. Experiencing and enjoy the gift we've been given by giving it away. By sharing it. By letting God be who He is in us, and through us, and as us. We don't have to try to be like Him. We just have to let Him be Him in us. That's out true identity: Jesus. God in the flesh. Love in a body. God in OUR flesh. Love in OUR body. The family business is reconciliation. And mercy. And grace. And forgiveness. And love. Letting people know that that's what they have by letting people know that that's who they are. Its not, "Do this to get this." Its, "This is what we have. This is what's available to us. Come and get it! Its yours!" The family business isn't about getting anything. Its about giving what you've got. Receiving what the Father has handed down to you and releasing it to those that you come into contact with. Telling the truth in love, because you know that the truth is love!