Lack part 3
The thing about lack--about having a mindset where we think we lack something--is that feeling like you're less than will always make you chase that thing that you think you lack. You'll always try to do in order to be. You'll get stuck in man-centered, performance based religion. Running around the hampster wheel. Wearing yourself out, but not getting anywhere. Banging your head against the wall and getting nothing but a headache. That's the trick that the serpent used when he hissed his lie into Eve's ear way back in the garden of Eden. "If you want to be like God you have to..." And it doesn't really matter what comes after that dot dot dot. What he was saying was, "You're not good enough. But if you do this, this, and this you can make yourself good enough." But aside from the fact--the truth!--that we were created in God's image in the beginning, I've always had a problem with the idea of us not being good enough, but somehow, magically, out of our own "not good enough" strength... making oureslves good enough. And, listen, I'm not talking about practicing and getting better at things. Obviously that exists. I'm talking about how, at the end of the day, we are who we are. And if who I am isn't good enough for you... that's YOUR problem. I can't do anything about that. I can't change that. But that's why its so damaging to think of ourselves that way--in relation to each other and certainly in relation to God. If we see ourselves as not good enough, as lacking, then we'll try to be better. But how are we supposed to rise above our own selves? So we screw up. And then we get frustrated and give up. I've seen it so many times. "I'm already going to hell, so what's the point of even trying?" That's what religion has to offer. Religion has us running FROM God instead of running TO Him. I'm telling you, His arms are open wide. He's our safe place. God doesn't love us because of what we do. He loves us because of who we are. And who HE is. God IS love. It isn't just what He does, its who He is. I have no lack because my God has no lack. Look at Colossians 2:10, "And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power." We are complete in Him. Because He is complete in us. We have everything we need. God has given us all things that pertain to life and godliness. He has blessed us with all Spiritual blessings in the heavenly Christ. Everything we need (LOVE) is found in God. And God is found in us. He lives in us. We live in Him. Love lives in us. We live in love. Here it is as simply as I can put it: No love, no life. KNOW love, KNOW life! We try so hard to be someone we're not. To get something we think we haven't got. When what we ought to be doing is embracing who we are. Celebrating who we are. And embracing each other. Celebrating each other. To live is to love and to love is to live. Life is about connection, and relationship. If you feel like you're lacking something, you'll always be trying to get something. And that's not love. Love is giving. Knowing that you are who you're supposed to be, knowing that you have what you need to have, and giving it away. Sharing it. Giving YOURSELF away. Laying your life down for your friends. Loving the hell out of people because you know God loves the hell out of you!