In Knowing part 5
To know, and to be known. That's what this life is all about. To know that we are loved, and to be known of love. To be known BY our love. That's literally what Jesus says in John 13:35, "By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another." Because, let's be honest, people judge by appearance. Jesus says we shouldn't, that we should judge not by appearance, but by righteous judgment, but if it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck most people will call it a duck. What we do matters, is what I think I'm trying to say. Because that's how people know us. The people in my life call on me for help because they know I'll help them. Because I always have. "I've got your back" isn't just something I say. Its who I am. And people know that. Because its what I do. We don't do in order to be... we do BECAUSE we be. What's inside always comes out--what you believe is inside always comes out. Because that's what belief, or faith, is. Its the rubber meeting the road. Faith without works is dead, right? We show our faith by what we do. If we love one another, people will know that we are disciples of Jesus. Of God. Of love. And check this out real quick: "Disciples" in John 13:35 is number 3129 in Strong's Greek Concordance and it means, "a learner, that is, pupil: - disciple." So if you're a disciple of Jesus, you're a student of love. Learning how to love by learning how we are loved. Letting God love us and loving Him back by loving each other! And, much like my mom, we are life-long students. So if you think about it--we have been given an eternal life. We are never-ending life long students of love! There's too much to learn about it. We'll never figure it all out. My passage of Scripture that I love about testing the height, and length, and depth, and breadth of His love. So good. And we test it... by using it. By giving it away. We prove God's love--to ourselves--by obeying the New Commandment, which is to love others as Jesus loves us. To know and believe His love, and to give away what we've got. To share it. To let other people--and ourselves--experience it by letting what's inside come out. Not by forcing it out--or "faking it 'til we make it"--but simply by knowing and believing that its in there. What you believe, either the lie of the world or the truth of God, is what manifests in your life. Either trying to earn something that can't be earned... or receiving and releasing something that has already been given to you. That's the choice. That's what available to us. A life of trying to earn something that can't be earned... or experiencing the gift we've been given. People will know us by our love. So we have to know our love. We have to know that we are loved. Because you can't give what you don't have. And you can only give what you do have. In knowing that we are loved... we can love. In knowing what's inside... it comes out. Naturally. And that's the point. Our new (true) nature. The love nature. Love isn't just what God does. Its who God is. Love isn't just what WE do. Its who WE are. Know it. Believe it. Live it. Love it!