Light it Up part 5
Here's what I think I've been trying to say in this Rant series: It-- and by "it" I mean salvation, holiness, righteousness, abundant, everlasting, eternal, Resurrection Life-- doesn't come from what you do. It comes from what Jesus did on the cross. And BECAUSE of what Jesus did on the cross we are equipped and empowered to LIVE His abundant, everlasting, eternal, Resurrection Life by letting HIM live it in us and through us and as us. We are holy because the holy One lives inside us. We are not righteous in the sense of self-righteousness, we are the righteousness of God in Christ. We don't save ourselves (or anybody else) through works of the flesh. We were saved 2,000 years ago (and really, since Jesus is the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, we have always been saved. Our salvation simply manifested in its fulness on the cross). Let me say it like this, "Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you. Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you. These things I command you, that ye love one another" (John 15:15-17). The Vine and the branches. We don't PRODUCE the fruit, we simply bring it forth. We bear it, and share it with those around us. Everything flows from the source. Jesus--the light of the world--lit us up and now we--the light of the world--can shine. But we don't shine by trying really hard. Works and labor don't work. We shine by believing that the light is shining on us, and in us, and through us. Arise shine for your light HAS come. We don't MAKE the light come. God spoke and said, "Let there be light." And there was light. Now we LET the light shine. It's so important that we understand that we are not servants under the rule of a distant, angry, tempermental task master. How's that song go? I am a friend of God! Right? And more that that. We are the Son(s) of God. We are Jesus. God in the flesh. Love in a body. God in YOUR flesh. Love in YOUR body. And look at what the command was. Look at HOW we bring forth fruit that remains. Look at what it's all about: Love one another. It's all about love! Everything in creation--the creation that came from the God that is love, that came out of Him and is in fact Him--is groaning for the manifestation of the Son(s) of God. The manifestation of love. The Word became flesh. Love became charity. Not an idea, but an action. Laying your life down for your friends, just as Jesus laid His life down for us (and as us)! And that's what it means that we are saved, and holy, and righteous. That's what it means to partake of the divine nature. That's what it means to live the abundant, everlasting, eternal, Resurrection Life that is the gift of God. It means... we are loved, so we CAN love. He lit us up, and now we can shine!