Fellowship part 1
I hope you're not sick of hearing about relationships. If you are, you're probably not reading these Rants anymore. If you're not sick of here... here we go! "If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies, Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind" (Philippians 2:1-2). There's only one way. A straight and narrow way that leads to life. The more excellent way that is Jesus. The more excellent way that is love. One love. One accord. One mind. That's how fellowship works. In order to be in a relationship with someone, you have to find SOME common ground. And the most common ground that exists is love. The ground at the cross is level. We are all the same when it comes to love. Love is universal and unconditional. When Jesus was lifted up from the earth onto the cross, He drew all men into Himself. He drew us out of Adam and into Christ. He drew us out of the world and into the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of Heaven. The Kingdom of Love! It's all about love. Love is what life IS. To live is to love and to love is to live. They aren't just connected, they are the same thing. And, in reality, love is the only thing that can truly connect us to each other. I know we get caught up in lots of different things. We do things because of guilt. Or because of obligation. We do things because we think we're "supposed" to. We do things for all sorts of reasons. But the best things we do come from the heart. The best reason to do something is because it's in your heart to do it. That's when you will really do it to the best of your ability. When you know what's inside, that's when you can let it out. That's when you can fill yourself to overflowing with what you've already been filled with and watch it come out naturally. The thing I think we get stuck on the most is that we look at relationships with the mindset of "What can I get out of this?" Which is completely the wrong mindset. A relationship will not work if you're just trying to get things out of it. What matters is what you put into it. Love is giving. Not getting. Relationships work when both people put effort into it. And listen, it's not 50-50. It's 100-100. If you don't put everything you have into it... it's not going to work. I will say this: You DO get out of it what you put into it. A relationship--or fellowship--that you put all of yourself into will thrive. Jesus said the greatest love a man can have is to lay your life down for your friends. To give everything you have and everything you are. And, as backwards as it sounds, the more you give... the more you have. You don't lose love by giving it away. You magnify it. You make it grow, and expand. You increase it. That's what love does. That's what love IS. Love is a Holy Spirit wildfire that feeds on itself (Himself) and grows and grows and grows. Just as your relationships will grow and grow and grown when you take care of them. When you put effort into them. When you fill them up with love. I didn't really get where I wanted to go today. I wanted to talk about the "fellowship of the Spirit." But, hey, there's always tomorrow!