Meaning of Life part 2
The meaning of life is to live. And not only live, but live abundantly. Live Jesus' life by letting Him live His life in and through and as you. But sometimes in order to understand what something IS it's important to understand what it's NOT. The meaning of life is NOT to follow a list of does and don't and never make a mistake. Life is full of mistakes, because life is full of people. And people make mistakes. We don't always do the right thing. Sometimes, in spite of ourselves, we let outside forces dictate to us. Even though we know the Kingdom economy is not outside-in, but inside-out. Or, we let fear of failure, fear of making a mistake, keep us from living at all. And to me that might be the worst kind of hell--to be alive, but to be afraid of living. That's almost what Adam was when he ate from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Because on that day... he died. Not in the natural, but in the Spirit. He was alive, but he was--in a sense--cut of from the Tree of Life. Thankfully, that's not the end of the story. Because at the appointed time God sent His only begotten Son and reconnected us to the source. He became who we were, and died, so that we--who were already dead in our trespasses and sins--could die. And with that second death we were given a new birth. We were brought out of bondage and into the Promised Land of rest. Out of religion--that external Law that tried to control our behavior--and into relationship--where we do what we do not out of fear of punishment, but where we do what we do out of love. That's what life is all about: Being loved by our heavenly Father and loving each other with that same love. Jesus said it like this, "As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me" (John 6:57). I love that phrase, and that glorious truth. "I love by the Father." BY the Father. Not FOR the Father. See, we always think we need to do things for God. As if He's a demanding taskmaster. But really everything we do we do BY the Father. In Him we live and move and have our being. In us He lives and moves and has His being. If it's anything it's a partnership. Co-heirs. Co-labourers. Not God telling us what to do and we have to do it or else. That's not what "being led by the Spirit means." Because the Spirit doesn't demand. He empowers. He leads and guides us into all truth. Being led by the Spirit means knowing and believing what the Spirit is speaking. And what the Spirit is speaking--the Word of God--is Jesus. Is love. Our true identity. We live an abundant life--again, by letting Jesus live HIS life in and through and as us--when we stop living like servants (or slaves) and start living like Son(s). When we stop TRYING (with works and labor) to please a God who is already well pleased with us. When we stop trying to live and start to receive the gift of eternal, everlasting, abundant, Resurrection Life that we have already been given. Receive it... and release it. That's the meaning of life!