Purpose part 4
A life of purpose is a life of love. Because God's purpose--and subsequently OUR purpose--is love! We were created, by the God who is love, to be loved and to love one another. To receive and release the love of God. That's what its all about. Its all about love. Like I always say: If you don't know what to do... do what you know. Love people. If you don't know what your purpose is... just love the people in your path. When you start (and end... Alpha and Omega, right?) with love, everything else is just details. Everything else just flows. But that's where knowledge (heart knowledge, not head knowledge) and faith comes in. Because love is giving. And you can't give what you don't have. You can only give what you do have. So we must know and believe the love of God before we can experience it. And, since love is giving, we experience it when we give it away. When we share it. Receiving is great, but only because it leads to releasing. God filling us up so that we can fill ourselves up to overflowing with what He has filled us with! Letting what's inside come out by knowing and believing its in there. Letting God love the hell out of us so that we can love Him back by loving the hell out of each other! That's our purpose. That's why we were created. That's why we're here. We are the visible expression of the invisible God. We are God's love letter to the world. When people see love--in us, and as us, and through us--they see God. That's what Jesus told Philip--He said, "If you've seen me you've seen the Father." And what did people see when they looked at Jesus? A man. Like you and me. A man... that loved people. A man that healed people. Fed people. Wept with people. Partied with people. A man who gave Himself--culminating in the ultimate sacrifice of giving His very life on the cross--to people. Which, as you know, is my definition of love--giving everything you have and everything you are without worrying about what comes next. And, listen, there's a lot of wisdom in HOW we love each other. Because not everyone loves in the same way and not everyone receives love in the same way. But the point is, it doesn't matter if it seems like the more you love the less you are loved. What matters is that you do your part. What matters is that you fulfill your purpose. That you give what YOU'VE got. Because, listen, that's really all you can do. Do your best and forget the rest, as one of Logan's old cartoons was fond of saying. So just be you. Don't try to be someone you're not. Certainly not to get something you think you haven't got. God gave it all to us when He gave His only begotten Son to us. When He gave HIMSELF to us. When He gave His Spirit to us. Because He always has and always will love us. What else could the God who is love do? But when He gave His Spirit to us--the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth that leads and guides us into all truth--He gave us the love receptor. So that we might know His love. Believe His love. And share His love!