In Knowing part 2
In knowing, we can believe. In believing, we can experience. And that's the whole point of the whole thing, isn't it? Jesus came to give us life, and that more abundantly. But where I think we get it twisted a lot of the time, is that we try to live Jesus' life. When nobody can live Jesus' life except Jesus. We try to walk in His foot steps. When really its Him making His own foot steps with our feet. We are not supposed to try to live His life. We let Him live His own life in us, and through us, and as us. And that's how we experience it--we be still and know that HE is God. Know that HE is the One living life... because He IS life! "And this is the record, that God hath given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son" (1 John 5:11). We live in Him because He lives in us. His life IS our life. The abundant life that Jesus came to give us is His everlasting, eternal, Resurrection Life of love. Experiencing the love of God--the life of God--by receiving it and releasing it. Because you can't give what you don't have. And you can only give what you do have. So you have to know what you have. Believe that you have it. That's when you can give it away. Which, by the way, is what love is. Love is giving. Giving everything you have and everything you are. Living life by giving your life. If you really think about it... it IS better to give than receive. Think about a time when you've given someone something--especially something that they really needed, or something they never thought they could have--that joy on their face. Think about how giving someone else that joy fired YOU up. I'm telling you, if you want to feel love... love someone. Because the feeling is in the doing. Its not the destination as much as it is the journey. Giving (yourself) to others is what makes what you have worth having. Things are more valuable when they're shared. Which might seem counter-intuitive. We think keeping things to ourselves makes them more valuable. We think keeping them away from anybody else makes them worth more. But in reality it is the things that we share that are really valuable. Because things that can be shared are things that benefit more than just us. More than just me. Its the universality, the commonality, of life. We all go through the same things. And once we've been through something, we can help others through it. A map is nice... but a guide--someone who has been there, done that, and got the t-shirt--is priceless. So in knowing how to get through something, we can help others get through it. We can, look, my pastor says it like this, "If you know it, throw it." People need each other. If you can do something... do it. Share your gift. Because people need it. We need each other. It is not good for man to be alone. We're all in this together. We NEED each other. So when you know what you've got, when you know who you are, you can give who you've got. You can be who you are. But it comes from knowing. Knowing and believing. Being renewed in the knowledge of Christ. The knowledge of who we really are. Christ in us, the hope of glory. Revealed glory. The glory within coming out as we know and believe that it IS within!