Fullness part 3
Its scary when you think you don't have what you need. Terrifying. And if its truly something that you NEED, not just WANT, you'll be willing to do just about anything to get it. That's why religion is so seductive; we think it gives us our best chance of getting what we need. And we don't mind earning our bread with the sweat of our brow. Working hard and being rewarded for it is the definition of the carnal mind. Getting what you (think you) don't have by conforming to someone else's idea. Because they have what you want, and they'll give it to you... for a price. But look at Romans 12:2, "And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is the good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God." There's such a huge difference between CONformed and TRANSformed. One means trying to fit in. The other means being who you are. And the best part of all is that, well, let me quote the memory verse: "For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren" (Romans 8:29). That was the cross. We were conformed to the image of God's beloved Son in whom He is well pleased. So when Paul is writing a few chapters later to not be conformed to the world... what he's saying is, "Don't go back to that! You have been freed from the world. You can live in (and out of) the Kingdom because you are the Son of the King! You are kings and priests! You don't have to beg for anything, or earn anything, because it has all been given to you." So when we BE transformed by the renewing of our mind, what we're really doing is just being who we already are. We've already BEEN transformed. The old has passed away and the new has come forth. We don't need to transform. We just need to understand that we have BEEN transformed already. We don't need to shake our cup, hoping someone will have pity on us and fill it up. We've already been filled to overflowing with the very thing that we need. Because--don't get me wrong--we NEED love. Every single one of us. We were created to be loved by God and to love each other with that love. To receive and release the love of God. To receive it BY releasing it. To release it by receiving it. That's our purpose. That's why we're here. But you can't give what you don't have (or what you THINK you don't have). And you can only give what you do have. That's what the Good Fight of Faith is all about: laying hold of eternal life. Which is the gift of God. Which is not something we need to get, but something we've already been given. So we don't need to fight in order to get something, but we need to fight in order to believe that we have something. We are already full of it. Completely. Jesus is the fulness of the Godhead bodily. All of God in a body. LOVE in a body. So when we let God love us, we are filling ourselves to overflowing with what we've been filled with. We are letting what's inside come out simply by knowing and believing that its in there. Because its too big (and too good) to keep to ourselves. We couldn't keep it to ourselves if we tried. Love is giving. And what we have is meant to be given away. Shared. And in that way, experienced. That's how we live a full life... a life of love... by letting what's inside come out! We have it. We just need to know it, believe it, and share it!