Love Is part 4
I'm going to say it as simply as I can say it tonight: "Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren" (1 John 3:16). And I really like the word "perceive" there. The way we SEE, or FEEL, or EXPERIENCE the love of God is by knowing that He laid His life down for us... and knowing that because of Him laying His life down for us--giving His life for us and to us--we can lay our lives down for each other. And not only can we, but we ought to. That's the New Commandment, "Love one another as Jesus loves you." Receive and release His love. Let what's inside come out. That's what this life is about. That's what this abundant, everlasting, eternal, Resurrection Life of love is all about. Letting God love us and loving Him back by loving each other. Receiving and releasing the gift we've been given. And seeing is believing, right? What you see is what you be. Understanding what God did for us (and as us) is what equips and empowers us to be able to do that for each other. You can't give what you don't have. And you can only give what you do have. So you need to know what you've got. You need to know what love is. That's why Jesus came: He came to show us the Father. God is love. He came to show us love. Show us HOW to love. And He did that by laying His life down. He did it by healing people, and by feeding people, and by teaching people. Yes. But in the fullness of it... He did it by laying His life down. By (again) giving His life FOR us, and TO us. And then, just for the record, AFTER Jesus laid His life down, that's when God's judgment came into play. God's judgment was not to kill His only begotten Son. God's judgment was to raise His Son from the dead. His judgment was not a death sentence, it was a life sentence. An eternal life sentence. A Resurrection Life sentence. God's love was not killing anybody. God's love was destroying death so that we can experience life. True life. And, as we know, to live is to love and to love is to live. Love is giving. Everything you have and everything you are. I'm not saying you have to literally die for people. Although, quite frankly, it could come to that. I would lay my life down for my son in an instant. I would take any hurt, any pain, from him if I could. Any time. Every time. But I think putting others first is just as important as literally taking a bullet for someone. Because love isn't about you. That's where I want to end this Rant series tomorrow, but I'll drop a little bit of it here. Love is not about the longing for something. Because love is never about getting. Because love IS giving. Giving what you have to the people in your life that need it. Letting what's inside come out. By knowing and believing it's in there. And the ability to feel love best BY loving people is just a fringe benefit. Love is... laying your life down, just as Jesus laid His life down. Giving everything you have and everything you are. Giving your life. Giving yourself. Because love is... giving.