Fullness part 1
I think about how much we settle for a lot. Or, I should say, how little we settle for. Which is a crying shame. Because there is so much available to us. But we disqualify ourselves from experiencing what we've been given because we don't think we deserve it. Or we don't think we're worthy of it. Or we don't think we've earned it. One of my favorite passages of Scripture is Ephesians 3:16-19 (NLT), "I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit. Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God's love and keep you strong. And may you have the power to understand, as all God's people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God." There's a lot there, but it is all so good. And it all leads to the idea of being complete in Him. And what that means is experiencing all the fullness of life and power that comes from God. Experiencing His life as He lives it in you, and through you, and as you. Letting God do what He wants to do. Not trying to live Jesus' life (nobody can live Jesus' life except Jesus), but EXPERIENCING that abundant, everlasting, eternal, Resurrection Life of God (His life of love) by receiving and releasing the gift of God--which is His life, His love--that we have already been given. Not settling for anything less than what we already have. Look at Colossians 2:9 (NLT), "For in Christ lives all the fullness of God in a human body." And because Christ lives in us... that fullness lives in us! We have been given all things that pertain to life and godliness. We have been filled with the fullness of God. We can understand how big His love is when we let Him love us. When we let Him show us how big His love is. It's not something we need--it's something we have. It's not something for us to get--it's something for us to give away. Because love IS giving! You can give without loving, but you can't love without giving. The whole point of having this fullness is so that we can experience it by giving it away. Filling ourselves to overflowing with what we've already been filled with so that it comes out of us. Naturally. With every move we make and every breath we take. In order to stop settling, we need to understand what is available to us. What we really have. We need to understand how high and long and wide and deep God's love is. And the only way to do that is to let us love Him, and to love Him back by loving people. Receive and release His love. We seem to think that something is better than nothing. But I've learned the hard the way that the wrong thing is NOT better than nothing. And I've learned that our God will never leave us nor forsake us. We never have nothing. Because we always have Him. The body that Christ lives in... is ours. So even when we think we're all alone, we're not. He is with us. LOVE is with us. And if we have that, we have everything we need. If we have love, we can love. And to live is to love. To love is to live. They aren't just connected, they are the same thing. So stop settling. Experience and enjoy the fullness of the gift you've been given... by giving it away. By sharing it. Love is giving. Give what you've got. And in that way, experience what you've got! What you've got is so good. It's the best thing going. The best thing ever. So make sure you understand what His love is. Let Him show you. Let Him love you. And then love Him back by loving people!