Life of Service part 4
Yesterday I said something along the lines of living a life of love, and in that way loving the life you live. It's a good turn of phrase. And it's completely true. Love is giving. You can give without loving, but you can't love without giving. Look at Acts 20:35, "I have shewed you all things, how that so labouring ye ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive." And maybe I'm weird, maybe this is just me, but when I look back on things I remember more fondly the times I was able to give to someone rather than the times someone gave to me. And don't get me wrong, I appreciate it. There's nothing worse than needing something that you don't have. When someone steps into that gap and has your back... that's amazing. But the flip side of that coin is when YOU step into someone else's gap. I can remember once hooking someone up--I'm not going to go into the whole story--but the fact that they were literally shaking with relief and gratitude... that's something you don't forget. And, look, I'm not trying to pat my own back here. I'm just trying to illustrate how powerful it is when you give. And never forget, you can't give what you don't have. That's why it's so important to understand 1 John 4:19, "We love him, because he first loved us." And, to be clear, we love Him BY loving each other. So we love (full stop) because He first loved us. God and people, right? Loving God and loving people. Loving God BY loving people. That's what this life is for. That's what this life is all about. That's why we were created. God loves us SO THAT we can love. He fills us up with everything we need. Everything He is. And then we fill ourselves to overflowing by knowing and believing that He has filled us up. We fill ourselves with what we've already been filled with. We are transformed (by the renewing of our mind) into what we've already been transformed into. I said that to say this--you can't give what you don't have. So you have to know what you DO have. You have receive it. It is more blessed to give than to receive. Yes. But you have to receive first. So that you have something to give. The greatest love a man can have is to lay His life down for his friends. To give everything he has and everything he is. To esteem others higher than himself. That's one of my favorite verses. "Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others" (Philippians 2:3-4). It's the whole idea of if I watch out for you and you watch out for me then neither one of us has to worry about ourselves. It's literally the difference between selfish and selfless. Self-centered and Christ-centered. A life of wasting your three T's (Time, Talent, Treasure) in order to get something you (think you) haven't got, or a life of service in which you experience and enjoy what you have got by sharing it. By giving it away. It's not about getting. Ever. Because we already have it all. Because we already have Jesus. It's about giving. Giving what you've got. Being who you are. Letting what's inside come out by knowing and believing that you have it. Receiving and releasing the gift--the love--of God. Receiving it by releasing it. Releasing it by receiving it. That's what this life is for. That's what it's all about. That's why we were created. And that's how we live. It's a life of love. A life of service!