Labor of Love part 4
This life is a labor of love. Because to live IS to love, and to love is to live. You can't have one without the other and you can't do one without the other. They aren't just connected, they are the same thing. The gift of God is His abundant, everlasting, eternal, Resurrection Life of love. And that's not something that has to, or can be, earned. That is something that we have already been given. Something we simply need to receive. And, since receiving and releasing are not only just the Divine Order of things, but are intimately connected--we receive BY releasing, and we release BY receiving--we need to focus on God's love for us. 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 do have. You have to let what's inside--the love of God--come out. By knowing and believing that it's in there. So let me say what I'm trying to say clearly and simply: A labor of love... is letting God love you. Dwelling in His love. Basking in His love. Drowning in His love. Letting His love overwhelm you until there is nothing else. Because when you are that wrapped up in God's love for you--the receiving part--it WILL come out of you. Naturally. It has to. Because there is nothing else. What's inside--what you believe is inside--will come out. Because no matter what you believe is in there... it's too big to stay in there. Which is why I always say, "Feel what you feel, but don't let it control you." You can't lock up your feelings. They will fester, and grow, and eventually explode. Which is no good for anybody. Let me say it like this: Jesus finished the work, right? He completed the ultimate labor of love. And He did so in order for us to be able to know who He is, and who we are. In order to be able to receive the love that He has always been giving us. God didn't start loving us at the cross. He always has and always will love us. What happened on the cross is that our eyes were open. The scales fell from our eyes. The light shined on us, and into us, and through us, and out of us... so that we could see clearly. Jesus said the greatest love a man can have is to lay down His life for His friends. And then He went to the cross and did just that. He didn't just tell us... He showed us. He completed the labor of love so that we could experience His love. He did what needed to be done in order for us to be able to receive and release His gift. His love. His Spirit. His life. The true labor of love--that equips and empowers all of OUR labors of love--was the cross. Was Jesus laying His life down. Was the ultimate sacrifice. "But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8). When we had nothing to offer, God gave us everything. Because He loved us. Because He wanted us to have everything that He has and everything that He is. And that labor of love is what we both receive and release. That labor of love is what equips and empowers us to live... by letting Him love us and loving Him back with that same love!