Ownership part 5
I started this Rant series with the idea of "love without ownership." And as far as that goes... we don't "own" each other, but we do BELONG to each other. We are all parts of the same body. We are connected by the one thing in the universe that can truly connect things (or people): Love. Love is the glue that holds everything together. Everything was created by love, and everything is sustained by love. And, in a sense, everything is controlled by love. We just don't recognize this truth all of the time, and because we don't recognize love's guiding hand, we try to go our own way. "There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death" (Proverbs 14:12). When we go our own way, when we look for love in all the wrong places, we end up eating from the wrong tree--the tree of knowledge of good and evil. The tree of death. We think morality, or good vs evil, controls us. But it doesn't. That's surface stuff. That's not the deep stuff. Not the real stuff. The deep stuff, the real stuff, is the other tree--the Tree of Life. There's a way that SEEMS right... and then there's THE Way, THE Truth, and THE Life! The way that SEEMS right is, "I love you so I own you. I control you. I can change you because you're not good enough as you are." The Way that IS right is, "I love you just the way you are, so let me show you how you REALLY are. Let me shine the light of revelation in your heart and show you the hidden man of the heart. The true you." And that's the difference between our idea of ownership--control--and God's idea of ownership--protection. Jesus bought us with a price. We're not our own. We're His. And He won't give His glory to another, but He DID give His glory to us. BECAUSE we're His. And that glory is what "makes us" (reveals to us that we are) one with Him. The way love controls us is not from the outside in. Not by forcing us to do things. The way love controls us is from the inside out. By filling us to overflowing with the fulness of what we are full of! The love inside of us--revealed to us through the Holy Spirit (our love receptor)--comes out naturally. We are moved with compassion and motivated by love. That's the "control." Not, "Do it or else," but, "I have something that's too good to keep to myself." Because what I have isn't really MINE to begin with. I'm a steward of what my Father has trusted me with. I'm not to horde it up... I'm to share it. And by sharing it, multiply it. That's how the ever expanding Kingdom of God expands! I know and believe that I have everything that pertains to life and godliness... and I share what I have with whoever I come into contact with. I'm not just connected to you, but I'm a joint of supply. And so are you. We have what each other needs. And by sharing it we love without ownership. We love without expectation. We love... for love's sake. Love doesn't need a motivation. Love IS the motivation. It owns us and controls us and leads us and guides us and protects us!