Perfecting part 5
In the Kingdom of God (the Kingdom of Love) it is never about GETTING. Because love IS giving. And we have already been given the gift of God. It is, instead, about UNDERSTANDING. Knowing and believing what we have. Knowing and believing who we are. So that's why the Bible talks about perfecting the saints. We already ARE perfect. We are complete in Him. You can't get any more perfect than having the Perfect One live inside you. But what you believe dictates how you act. If you believe you're a sinner, you're going to act like one. You're going to run FROM God instead of running TO Him. A slave with a guilty conscience will run from his master. But a dearly loved Son in whom the Father is well pleased runs TO His loving heavenly Father. That's the difference between Adam and Jesus. Adam and Eve hid from the presence of God. Jesus embraced it. Adam and Eve tried to DO in order to BE. Jesus did because He knew who He was. He didn't do in order to be, He did because He be. So this idea of, "I'll clean up my act and then I'll go to church..." I can't tell you how crazy that drives me! How are you supposed to clean up your act on your own? Because, remember, it's NOT about getting. It's not about turning over a new leaf. It's about realizing (and understanding) that we are connected to an entirely different tree! Not the tree of death (the tree of knowledge of good and evil). Not judging things by appearance and trying to do not and not do evil. But the Tree of Life! Eating, and sharing, the fruit of the Spirit. Which is love. Which is what it means to be perfect! In the Bible perfect doesn't refer to never messing up. It refers to maturity. And maturity is a process of learning and growing. Perfecting the perfect. Apprehending what you've been apprehended of. Looking into the mirror with an unveiled face, seeing the glory of the Lord, and being changed into that image FROM glory TO glory! We start at glory! And then we end at glory! Jesus is the beginning and the end! The Alpha and the Omega. It's all Him. And He is love. So we start with an incomplete understanding of love--Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so--and then the Holy Spirit (our love receptor, the Spirit of Truth) takes us by the hand and leads and guides us into all truth. We begin "...to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge..." (Ephesians 3:18-19). We learn HOW to love by learning how we ARE loved. We let God love us, and that perfect love casts out fear. We don't have be afraid of making mistakes. You can't learn from your mistakes if you never make any. And we don't have to be afraid of losing what we've got, because we know (and believe) that we are connected to the unlimited source. He IS the Tree (of the Vine) and we are the branches. We don't produce the fruit. We simply bear it. We carry it to those who need it. And we partake of it with them. We give it away, and we share it. We experience love by loving others. We BE perfect, when we understand that we ARE perfect. Not less than, trying to get better. But exactly who we need to be, and simply learning who we are. Who we REALLY are. Who we are in Christ. Which is who Christ is in us! Absolutely perfect!