Living Sacrifice part 2
We present our bodies to the Lord as a living sacrifice... by living. That's the thrust of what I want to say in this Rant series. Because I think too often we get so caught up in the afterlife--"do you know where you're going when you die?"--that we lose sight of the life that we have now. And let me just drop a quick memory verse before I get into what I want to get into tonight. "We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord" (2 Corinthians 5:8). And I'll tell you what, I heard a great message one time from an amazing preacher who talked about how we can be absent from the body--the natural way of thinking--even IN our physical bodies, and in that way be present with the Lord--Spiritual way of thinking, using the mind of Christ--at all times. Good stuff. Point being, I'm not worried about what comes after I die. I'm more concerned with living while I'm alive. I'm more concerned with being a LIVING sacrifice. I'm more concerned with what Jesus came that I might have--life and that more abundantly. Which means love, and THAT more abudantly. 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. So when I say we present our bodies to the Lord as a living sacrifice by living... I could just as well be saying we present our bodies to the Lord as a living sacrifice by LOVING! I believe the two most important things in the universe are God and people. Loving God and loving people. Loving God BY loving people. Because it's all about love. And love is that bond, that relationship, between God and man. Between the God IN me and the God IN you. Letting God love the hell out of us and loving Him back by loving the hell out of each other. Think about this: All throughout the New Testament--the letters that Paul wrote to the different churches--Paul referred to himself as a prisoner of Christ. He wrote about not being able to do anything except what the Holy Spirt allowed (equipped and empowered) him to do. The love of God constraineth, or controls, us, he would write. Why? Because we give ourselves over to it. We let Jesus take the wheel, if I can put it that way. We present ourselves to Him. He bought and paid for us on the cross. But He is not the type of master that rules through fear and intimidation. He is the kind of master that leads by example. He never expects us to do anything He wouldn't first do. He never expects us to do anything He hasn't equipped and empowered us to do. Even the New Commandment says that we ought to love one another as Jesus loves us. Simply receive and release God's love. Breathe it in and breathe it out. Let the Holy Spirit lead us, guide us, direct us, and protect us. And know that the only thing the Holy Spirit ever leads anybody to do... is love one another. That's what God wants from us, and for us. So that's what He gave to us. And because He gave it to us, that's what we can give back to Him by giving it to each other! That's how we love... and that's how we live!