In Service To part 3
Let's get a little bit of context. 2 Corinthians 5:13-14 (NLT), "If it seems we are crazy, it is to bring glory to God. And if we are in our right minds, it is for your benefit. Either way, Christ's love controls us. Since we believe that Christ died for all, we also believe that we have all died to our old life." In other words, everything... EVERYTHING... we do in our new life is in service to love. Whether we are making a fool of ourselves, or doing small things that are really big things. Whether we are really even aware of it or not... this new life--Jesus' abundant, everlasting, eternal, Resurrection Life--is a life of love. Love is what makes it abundant, everlasting, and eternal. But here's the tricky part: We were ALL drawn into Christ on the cross. He planted Himself in ALL of us. Since we beleive that Christ died for ALL, we believe that we have ALL died to our old life. Its all about love. And for those of us who know and believe the love of Christ... we have it easy. In a sense. Because we no longer have to try to get something we (think we) don't have. We can simply receive it and release it. Receive it BY releasing it. We can do what we do in service to the love that we have. The love that we are! Its a bit more complicated for those who don't know the glorious truth of the gospel. Those who do everything they do in service of getting the love that they think they don't have. Looking for love in all the wrong places. Trying to jump through hoops in order to earn something that can't be earned. Guys... that's no way to live. I absolutely DO think there are some things worth jumping a fence for. People, for example. I think there are only two REALLY important things in the entire universe: God and people. Love God, love people. Love God BY loving people. Love God by letting Him love you and loving others with that same love. But love IS giving. It is never about getting. So if you're jumping through a hoop (or over a fence) hoping to get something from someone... its probably not going to happen. If you have to beg for something, even if you get it, its not worth it. So people who don't know that they are loved... they need it the most. The people who are the hardest to love aren't getting it anywhere else. And they need it. We all need it. So if loving someone seems crazy (because they don't accept it, or because they don't seem to "deserve it," or whatever), that's your time to shine. Giving what you've got. Reaching out because there are some people only you can reach. So if you don't... who will? You have what people need. So spend your life in service to love. Giving what you've got. Laying your life down for your friends (and, as always, understanding that you destroy your enemies by MAKING them your friends). Don't chase. Rest. Either way, Christ's love controls us. Either we do what we do in order to get it--which will lead to nothing but frustration because we already have it--or we do what we do in order to give it away. And in that way experience it. I don't think you can feel love any stronger than when you love someone. And that's HOW Christ's love controls us--We fill ourselves to overflowing with what HE has already filled us with and it comes out of us. Naturally. Letting what's inside come out is really the only way to live. Living a life in service to love. In service to God. In service to one another!