Puddle Jumper part 4
In a world where people are so fixated on what they can give... flip the script. Give what you've got. Give what they need. Show them something different. Show them a more excellent way. When you hear, "Don't cross oceans for someone who wouldn't jump a puddle for you," respond with, "It's not about me." Love is giving. Which, by definition, means it is never about getting. And, yes, I understand that you can't give what you don't have. I understand that you can only give what you do have. That's why the Divine Order of things is so important. Receiving and releasing. Letting God love you and then loving Him back by loving people. Look at 1 John 4:19, "We love him, because he first loved us." In the Message Bible it reads, "We, though, are going to love. Love and be loved. First we were loved, now we love. He loved us first." That, to me, in a nutshell, is the secret of life. The purpose of life. Love and be loved. Know and be known. Fill ourselves to overflowing with the love that God has ALREADY filled us with. And that, friends, is why is always speak of receiving and releasing. Love is never about getting. I think I mentioned that. But when it comes to love we don't NEED to get it. We already have it. He gave it to us. For God so loved the world He gave us His only begotten Son. Jesus went to the cross and gave His life for us, right? He also gave His life TO us. Why? Simply because He wanted us to have it. Simply because He wanted us to experience that love-filled relationship between Father and Son. I always speak about how our true identity is Jesus. God in the flesh, love in a body. God in OUR flesh. Love in OUR body. WE are His beloved Son in whom He is well pleased. WE are the vessel He has chosen to represent Himself as. He loved us... so that we could love. So that we could love Him back by loving each other. So it doesn't matter how people treat us. It matters how GOD treats us. That's the New Commandment, after all: "A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another" (John 13:34). Loving others as Jesus loves us. It's that simple. And that takes all of the pressure off. It puts all of the emphasis where it belongs. Not on you. Not on them. On God. On the God who IS love. If Jesus expects you to love big... He has to first love you big. Because that's His commandment; love as I have loved you. Receive it and release it. Breathe it in and breathe it out. Let God love the hell out of you, and then love Him back by loving the hell out of the people you come into contact with. Don't worry about how PEOPLE treat you. Treat God the way HE deserves by treating people the way you would like to be treated. Give what you've got. Give what you've been given. Don't judge according to appearance. Judge righteous judgment. Love people simply because they are people. Not because they've "earned" it, but because they DO deserve it. And that deserve doesn't come from what they've done. It comes from who they are. It comes from who YOU are. It comes from who GOD is.