Labor of Love part 2
This is one of my favorite verses (all of them, I know) because on the face of it, it seems ridiculous and nonsensical, "Let us labour therefore to enter into rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief" (Hebrews 4:11). Makes it sound like, "hurry up and finish the work so you can rest." Even the Message Bible bears this out, "So let's keep at it and eventually arrive at the place of rest, not drop out through some sort of disobedience." But let's look at it another way. Let's look at it from the idea of John 19:30, "When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost." It is finished. The work is done. Not because of anything WE did, but because of everything HE did. Jesus said the greatest love a man could have was to lay his life down for his friends. And then He put His money where His mouth was (so to speak) and went to the cross and laid His life down for us. He did everything that needed to be done... so that we could rest. That was HIS labor of love. He did it because He loved us. He did it so that we could rest. Look. Jesus fought the war to end all wars. And He won it. Which means there are no more wars left to win. Or fight. The only fight we need to concern ourselves with is the good fight of faith. Laying hold of the gift that we've already been given. Receiving and releasing the love of God. It's not about us doing ANYTHING except having faith. Faith is what makes what is already true... true for you. And, in line with my theme that everything is a labor of love... love is what we have faith in. Jesus said, "Have faith in God" (Mark 11:22). Which means "Have faith in love." Because God IS love. Fighting the good fight of faith is a labor of love because fighting the good fight of faith is believing that God loves us, no matter what the world is telling us. Believing the ultimate truth of the universe that says, "God is love and He loves you." The ultimate truth of the universe that is found in John 3:35, "The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hand." That's what this life is all about; receiving and releasing God's love. That's what this life is for. That's why we were created. And when love becomes our one (and only) priority, that's when we can experience and enjoy the gift--the abundant, everlasting, eternal, Resurrection Life of Love--that we have been given. We don't have to labor in order to earn it. We labor in order to ENTER it. Enter into the sheepfold. Through the door. Which is Jesus. Which is love. And, just for the record, the word "labour" in our verse in Hebrews is number 4704 in Strong's Greek Concordance and it means, "To use speed." Hurry up! Lay hold of what's been given to you! Stop trying to do anything else, and stop trying to get anything else, and stop trying to BE anything else. Hurry up and rest in your heavenly Father's arms. Embrace your EPIC (Eternal Purpose In Christ) destiny as the Father's beloved Son in whom He is well pleased! Hurry up... and stop hurrying up! I've heard faith described as a blind leap into the light, but I don't think there's really anything blind about it. It's walking the path that His Word lights up for us. Because we can see that path. Because we can trust the path. Because we know that HE knows where we should go, and how to get us there!