Priorities part 3
When we focus on what is really important in life... we experience life. Because love is what is really important, and to live is to love. To love is to live. They aren't just connected, they are the same thing. When we tend to miss it is when things kind of start to spiral out of control. Look at what Jesus said in Matthew 7:14, "Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it." Unfortunately, we seem to have taken this to be an "end time" scripture in which straight and narrow is the way that leads to heaven... instead of the broad path that leads to hell. I say unfortunately, because right there in the text Jesus tells us what He is talking about. Not afterlife. Life. And I believe hell is more of a current situation than an end point. Sometimes it feels like you're going through hell, right? At the same time, I believe heaven is where we are right now. The days of heaven on earth. That's what we have been given. That's what we can experience. With the right priorities. Instead of running around like chickens with our heads cut off trying to be someone we're not in order to get something we (think we) haven't got... we can just let God love us and then we can love Him back by loving people. And, listen, I'm all about live and let live. I'm all about grace. Letting people do their own journey at their own pace. So I don't like telling people what to do. Which is why I say this like this, "If you want to experience the abundant, everlasting, eternal, Resurrection life of God that IS Jesus's life of love... if you want to experience that, then you have to prioritize love in your life." It's the whole idea behind setting a goal and then doing everything you do in service of that goal. If love is your goal... then that's what you have to do. You have to love people. You have to give what you've got. That's literally the only way. The gate is strait and the way is narrow because it is love. Period. And, listen, love comes in many shapes and sizes. Love is given and received in many ways. So instead of looking at that verse as restrictive, instead of looking at it as a box to try to fit into, we need to see it for what it really is. Instructions from Jesus on how experience and enjoy His life. He is the door, right? The thief and the robber is anybody who tries to enter in by any way other than Him? And He is love. Any time we try to do anything without love... we are doomed to fail. Paul wrote about it in 1 Corinthains chapter 13. I'll just quote the first verse today, "Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am becoming as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal." It doesn't matter what you say, or how good it sounds, if there's no love in it. It doesn't matter what you do if there's no love in it. If love isn't your priority, you're wasting your time. Everything you do should be a labor of love. Charity--love in action. Random (or purposeful) acts of kindness. Be the change you want to see in the world. Let what's inside come out. By feeding it. By letting it grow. Helping it grow. Let what's inside come out by knowing and believing it's in there. That's what life is all about and that's how we experience this life we've been given!