From... To part 3
The journey from glory... to glory is one that doesn't make "natural" sense. It is a journey of self-discovery as we discover ouraelves in Jesus. As we discover Jesus in ourselves. Look at Ephesians 3:19, "And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, tha ye might be filled with all the fulness of God." A knowledge that passes knowledge. Being filled with the fulness. From glory to glory. This is the mindset we need to develope. Stop thinking you have to change from "bad" to "good." Jesus did not come to make "bad" people "good." He came to make dead people alive. He came that we might have life and have it more abundantly. He came to wake us from sleep. To show us who we are--by showing us who HE is. God in the flesh. Love in a body. God in OUR flesh. Love in OUR body. So let's stop coming at this from a place of "I'm not who I need to be, but maybe, someday, if I try hard enough, I can be good enough." You ARE who you need to be. You are fearfully and wonderfully made. You are exactly who you need to be, and you always have been. Created in the image and likeness of God. Starting at glory. Then, on the cross, conformed to the image of God's only begotten Son. Ending at glory. Seeing the glory of God in the mirror and being transformed into that same image. What you see is what you be. WHO you see (Jesus, love) is WHO you be. The journey is not changing from something you're not into something you are supposed to be. The journey is discovering who you've always been. It's a maturation process. It's "becoming" who you are by learning who you are. By learning who Jesus is. This all happens by knowing the love of Christ. Because, guys, that's who we are. We are loved, and that means we are love. That means we CAN love. We can be who we are by letting what's inside come out. By knowing and believing that it's in there. Seeing it in the mirror. And, listen, if you can't give what you don't have, and you can only give what you do have, that means that any time you love, you are proving (to yourself) that you are loved. We love because God first loved us. Faith works by love because love is all about faith. Knowing and believing. Receiving and releasing. Not thinking less of ourselves--that's not being humble--but simply thinking of ourselves less. Thinking of others. Seeing a need and meeting it. The difference between death and life... is love. No love, no life. Know love, know life! If you want to experience life--the abundant, everlasting, eternal, Resurrection Life of God--you have to experience love. And love is giving. We receive it... so that we can release it. We are blessed... so that we can be a blessing. The journey isn't from "bad" to "good." It is from death to life. It is from knowledge (head knowlege) to knowlege (heart knowledge). It is from glory... to glory. We start at glory. We start at the end. And that's why it's eternal. God's love is never-ending. Nothing can separate us from the love of God. So when we're loving Him back by loving each other, nothing has to separate us from each other either! We can get along. We can build, and have relationships. We can live... and we can love!