Inside Out part 5
You can't give what you don't have. And you can only give what you do have. Which is simply another way of saying: What you believe is inside, comes out naturally. If all you believe you have is bitterness, and hurt, and anger... then you're going to be a bitter, hurt, angry person. That's why forgiveness is so important, but I feel like that's another Rant for another time. What I'm trying to say today is that when God poured out His Spirit on all flesh--when He took up abode inside of us and filled us with the Holy Spirit--that's when we could really begin to live. Because that's when the Spirit of truth began to lead and guide us into all truth. That's when we began to know and believe the love of God. When "knowledge" went past our heads and into our hearts. Not just knowing ABOUT God, but KNOWING God. Not trying to appease an angry God--that's what WE thought of Him, even though that was never the truth--but having a relationship with our loving heavenly Father. That's why Jesus came to earth; to show us the Father! So we could see Him as He truly is and see ourselves as we truly are! So we could BE ourselves as we truly are by letting Him be Himself as He truly is in us, and through us, and as us! So we could know what's inside. The circumcision of the heart (made without hands) was the cutting away of the flesh. The cutting away of the human effort that we were using to try to earn something that can't be earned. If a gift has to be earned then it's not a gift. It's wages. And the Bible speaks of the wages of sin, which is death. When you believe wrong, you stagger around in the dark, trying to earn something that you've been freely given. The gift of God. Eternal life. Knowing the Father and the One whom He sent. Knowing Daddy, and knowing that Daddy loves you! And see, when you know you're loved... then you can love. Because the principle remains the same. You can't give what you don't have. And you can only give what you do have. If you have love, you can give love. What's inside--what you KNOW and BELIEVE is inside--comes out. Naturally. Because whatever it is, it's too big to stay inside. The scientific definition of being full is being filled to overflowing. So let me say it like this: You're full of it! Full of God's love. That's not just what He does, that's who He is. And as He is, so are we in this world. So that's not just what WE do, that's who WE ARE! That's our nature. The new nature of the New Man. The love nature that is Jesus. God in the flesh. Love in a body. God in YOUR flesh. Love in YOUR body. Changed from the inside out means what you believe dictating what you do. As you think in your heart, so are you. What you believe is true, is true for you. So when you believe THE Truth--Jesus, the Father loving the Son and giving all things into His hands--then sin (or unbelief) has no power over you. You can lay aside the weight, and the sin that so easily besets you, and you can walk in newness of life. The "change" you've been trying so hard to produce (with no real success) flows naturally out of a heart that beats with love!