Grand Scheme part 2
There's a master plan at work. A grand scheme. A mysterious plan that is Christ Himself. Love itself. Because, as we all probably already know, love is a mystery. It doesn't make sense. You love who you love and there's really no rhyme or reason to it. And nothing you can do about it either. The heart wants what it wants. Why is why following your heart can be such a risky proposition. But, at the same time, it's the safest thing you can do. Because love never fails. So when you understand love's plan--to give and not to get--then you begin to understand your EPIC (Eternal Purpose In Christ) Destiny. You begin to understand what it's all about. (Spoiler alert: It's all about love.) So let's look at this, because God's plan--Christ Himself--culminated on the cross. It's a redemption story, right? And you can't have a redemption story without something (someone) to redeem. It's pretty perfectly pictured in the parable of the Prodigal Son. God warned Adam--mankind--not to go his own way. Not to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Warned him that on the day he did so, he would surely die. But notice that God didn't STOP Adam. He let Adam do what was in his heart to do. (And remember, for the most part when I say "Adam" I mean "Adam and Eve." There's a lot to get into with Eve being deceived, and Adam choosing to stand with his wife, but I don't have time to get into it all right now. So.) Like the Prodigal Son, Daddy let Adam (us) do what he wanted. He tried to counsel him, but ultimately let him make his own decision. Because God knew the grass always looks greener on the other side. He had to let Adam experience the world so that Adam could CHOOSE the Kingdom. Which, again, we see in the parable Jesus told. AND we see it on the cross when one of the robbers--who, in my opinion WAS Adam, or at the very least represented him--asked Jesus to remember him. To re-member him. Put him back together. And Jesus promised the man that that very day he would be in paradise. God told Adam the day he ate of the tree of death he would surely die. Then Adam came to Jesus on the cross and Jesus told him he'd be with him in paradise. See the plan? The grand scheme? See what Christ came to do? He came to reconcile us back to God. To put us back where we belonged, if I can say it that way. To show us God by showing us God's love. To lay His life down so He could pick it back up. To give His life for us, and give His life to us. To redeem us. To bring us out of the power of darkness--out of the bondage of sin and death--and into the Kingdom--into righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost, into His abundant, everlasting, eternal, Resurrection Life! The mysterious part, to the carnal mind, is... why? Why would He do that? HOW could He do that? Love a sinner like me? Give His LIFE for a sinner like me? That doesn't make any sense. When I had nothing to offer He gave everything He had? Guys... that's what love IS! That's the mystery revealed: Christ in you the hope of glory! Love in you overflowing out as you fill yourself with the fulness of Him. As you give what you've got. As you share it and watch it multiply. That's why we're here: To be loved, and to love one another with that same love. That's the plan, Stan. That's the grand scheme. And as much as we get stuck on anything and everything else, THAT'S what matters. L-O-V-E. Love!