From... To part 5
This eternal life (the abundant, everlasting, eternal, Resurrection Life of God that is His life of love) is never-ending journey. And that's why it is the journey that is important. Not the destination. Especially when you consider that the destination... is where we start. When we look into the mirror with an unveiled, open face we see the glory of God and are changed into that same image from glory... to glory. We start at glory. Jesus is the Alpha and Omega. The beginning and the end. We start at Jesus. We start at God's beloved Son in whom He is well pleased. The journey is not changing into something we're not. It's a journey of discovery. Discovering who we are by discovering who Jesus is. And the best part is, it doesn't come from our effort. We discover who He is... as He reveals Himself to us. To us, and in us, and through us, and as us. It's the journey from death to life. Living by loving. Experiencing life by experiencing love. And since love is giving, we experience love not by getting, but by giving. Giving what we've got by knowing and believing that we already have it. Letting what's inside come out by filling ourselves to overflowing with what we've already been filled with. So stop looking at "progress" in the sense to "improvement." Self-improvement is rest. Being still and knowing that God is love. Knowing that God love you. The difference between death and life is love. We "get" from there... to here (from the place of being the walking dead to the place of living and loving) by accepting God's love. By letting Him love the hell out of us and then loving Him back by loving the people we come into contact with. That's the secret of life. That's why we were created. God didn't make us less than and then demand that we somehow make ourselves more. We are fearfully and wonderfully made. We are who we are supposed to be. God made you... you. And He made you the way you are on purpose. Being the best you you can be is not about becoming something you're not. It's about discovering (and accepting) who you really are. Which is who you are in Christ. Which is who Christ is in you. The key to all of it is looking INTO the mirror, as opposed to looking AT the mirror. If you're just looking at surface stuff you're not seeing what's really real. The deep calls out to the deep. It's what's inside that matter. The LOVE inside is what matters. Letting that love come out by knowing and believing it's in there. That's how we live. That's how we experience and enjoy the gift we've been given. Not by trying to get it, but by knowing and believing that we already have it. It's not a journy from "bad" to "good." Good and evil were on the same tree--the tree of death. And Jesus cursed that fig tree because it couldn't bear any fruit. We don't need to turn over a new leaf. We need to get onto a completely new tree! The Tree of Life. Feasting on the fruit of the Spirit. Which is love. Because you are what you eat. You mature by filling yourself with God. Filling yourself with love. And not chasing it etiher. Not looking for love in all the wrong places, but simply receiving the love God has already given you. Not by being someone you're not, but simply by being who you are. By letting Jesus be who HE is (one more time) in you, and through you, and as you! Letting the love, the light, the life, the God inside you... come out. That's how we get from there... to here. From death... to life. From glory... to glory!