Like a Sponge part 5
Baptized in the name--or nature--of the Lord Jesus Christ. Like a sponge thrown into the ocean of grace. Filled to overflowing with the love of our heavenly Father. Soaking it in. Soaking it UP. Letting Him who took away the sin of the world soak the sin out of us. The REMEMBRANCE of sin. The CONSCIOUSNESS of sin. Being filled with the light of the world--that we are--so that the darkness has no choice but to flee. Where there is light, there is no darkness. Where there is love, there is no fear. No fear that Daddy is going to punish us if we mess up. No fear that by giving away (sharing) what we've got, we'll run out of it. No fear... and no torment. No running around like chickens with our heads cut off trying to be someone we're not or get something we haven't got. Because we know. We know what we've got. He did it all so we could get it all. The "all" that He did was the cross. Giving His life for us and giving His life to us. And the "all" that we got is HIM. His Spirit. His life. We have been blessed with all Spiritual blessings. We have been given all things that pertain to life and godliness. Look at Hebrews 13:5, "Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee." Being content with what we have is only possible if we KNOW what we have. And, again, what we have is Him. What we have is the promise that He will never leave us, nor forsake us. What we have is everything we will ever need. And all we need to do is absorb that truth--the ultimate truth of the universe that the Father loveth the Son and hath given all things into His hand. The ultimate truth of the universe that Daddy loves us and gave us everything when He gave us Himself. If you're always trying to get something that you think you don't have, then you're missing out on what you DO have. Jesus said trying to get into the sheepfold any other way but the door makes you a robber. Because you're robbing yourself of the gift that you've been given. You can't earn a gift. You can't force your way into the Kingdom through the violence of human effort. All you can do is fight the good fight of faith. LAY HOLD of eternal life. Lay hold of the gift you've been given. Receive it and release it. Be filled with the fulness of His love by testing the height, and length, and depth, and breath of His love. And we test it... by giving it away. Because that's what love is. Love is giving. For God so loved the world He GAVE His only begotten Son. He GAVE us abundant, eternal, everlasting, Resurrection Life. He GAVE it to us. And now all we have to do is receive it and release it. Receive it BY releasing it. Believe that it's in there and it comes out naturally. A light doesn't try really hard to shine. It shines because that's it's nature. We don't try really hard to love. We love because that's our nature. Because, like a sponge, we have soaked it up. Not from the outside-in, but from the inside-out. You can't give what you don't have. And you can only give what you do have. So when you know (and believe) that you are loved... that's when you CAN love. That's when the Word (Jesus, love) is made flesh. That's when love overflows out of your inner most being like a river of living water. And that's when you truly begin to live!