Now What? part 4
Another one of my favorite Bible verses, one that I call the OTHER 3:16 (because John 3:16 is so popular, but this is the other one), "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). Receiving and releasing in a nutshell. He loves us, we love Him back by loving each other. It's really just that simple. Letting God love the hell out of us... and loving the hell out of each other. And, listen, that doesn't mean you always have to agree with people. Like Mark Twain said, "The more time I spend with people... the more I love my dog." People can be a lot sometimes. But that doesn't mean you should not love them. In fact, those people that are the hardest to love are the ones who need it the most. Because they aren't getting it anywhere. Because they're hard to love. Kind of a vicious cycle. If you don't feel loved you will lash out. Which makes it even harder for you to get what you want. Hurt people hurt people. But loved people love people. And, in this Kingdom economy that we live in, that doesn't mean "Some person loves me." It means "GOD loves me." And, yes, that usually manifests itself through people. The Lord works in mysterious ways because He works through people, and people are mysterious. But if you look at 1 Samuel 30:6 you see, "And David was greatly distressed; for the people spake of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and daughters: but David encouraged himself in the LORD his God." Sometimes it's just you and God. Sometimes that's all you've got. All the time that's all you need. Because if you've got God you've got love. Because God IS love. When we're wondering what to do now... the answer is always the same. People say Jesus is the solution to every problem, and then wise-acre people give a math problem. That's not what we mean. We mean every situation--including math--needs love in it. And we, as those who know and believe the love of God, are the ones equipped and empowered to spread that love. He laid His life down for us. We ought to lay our lives down for each other. That's what it means to love one another as Jesus loves us. That's what it means to obey the New Commandment. Love as you are loved. Give what you've been given. Live out of your abundance. Stop chasing those things that you (think you) don't have. Those things that you don't really need. Be content with what God gives you. Because He has given you everything. Everything He has and everything He is. He has given us His Son. His Spirit. His life. His love. Anytime we don't know what to do, we can default to simply loving people. That's the answer. That's the solution. It's that simple. Not always necessarily that EASY, but certainly that simple. Now what? Well, because of what came before (2,000 years before on an old rugged cross), now we can love. Because now we know that we have love. Now we know that we are loved. And if you have love, because you are loved, that's when you can love, because you are love!