Loved part 1
I want to talk about perspective for the next few days. Specifically, the idea that it is equally as important--if not MORE important, at least in the beginning--to understand that we are loved. Because you can't give what you don't have. And you can only give what you do have. If you're running around like that chicken with his head cut off looking for love in all the wrong places... you'll never be able to love anybody. And if you're always trying to earn something that can't be earned... you'll rob yourself from enjoying the gift you've been given. Let me show you what I mean, "And he said unto him, Lord, I am ready to go with thee, borth into prison, and to death" (Luke 22:33). Peter professing his love for the Lord. Which is something I hear all the time. People talking about how much they love Jesus. And it reminds me of the words in Matthew 6:16-18, "Moreover when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad contenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face; That thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret: and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly." Because it's not about putting on a show. It's not about making yourself look bigger by making someone else look smaller. It's not about "proving" how much you love God. Look at what Jesus said to Peter in Luke 22:34, "And he said, I tell thee, Peter, the cock shall not crow this day, before that thou shalt thrice deny that thou knowest me." In other words, words are wind. They blow this way and that way. And if you're focused on how much you love Jesus, then you probably don't realize how much Jesus loves you. That's why "How He Loves" by the David Crowder Band is my favorite song of all time. The focus isn't on you and what you do. The focus is where it belongs: On Jesus. And not only on what He does--He loves us--but who He is. God IS love. Any love that we have... comes from Him. "We love him, because he first loved us" (1 John 4:19). And we love Him, by loving each other. We love each other by letting the love that's inside us come out. By filling ourselves to overflowing with His love. It's not about how much I love God. That's a result of how much He loves me. When Jesus was baptized and the Holy Spirit descended on Him like a dove--the Holy Spirit, our love receptor--God declared His love for His Son. "This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased." And that's the difference between Adam--the son of God--and Jesus--the BELOVED Son of God. Jesus let Himself BE loved. Jesus know God loved Him. And don't get me wrong, God loved Adam too. Adam just didn't seem to know it. He tried to earn it. Eve ate from the tree of death in order to get something she didn't think she had. But when you know who you are in Christ (who Christ is in you) that's when you can live from the inside-out. That's when you can stop looking for love in all the wrong places. You can go straight to the source. Because the source lives in you. You ARE the source. Filled to overflowing with love. And when we focus on HIS love for us... when we focus on how loved we are... that's when (and how) we fill ourselves to overflowing with what we've been filled with. That's when--and how--what's inside comes out. Naturally. Because we know it and believe it. Because we receive it and release it!