Receive part 2
Receiving is so important, because it gets us out of the mindset of getting. So often we spend our Three T's (Time, Talent, Treasure) trying to get the things we think we haven't got. We waste our lives chasing the very things we've always had. And we do it, in my opinion, because we don't believe we're worthy of those things that we want. Our heart's desire is love. Period. What else could it be? Acceptance. A place of belonging. People who care for us. People who have our backs. That's what we all want. Community. Relationship. Even hermits like me want--NEED--that support group. Let me say it another way, "And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him" (Genesis 2:18). And, when you get right down to it, that's what love is: Giving everything you have and everything you are to someone else. Laying your life down for your friends. Experiencing that bond. That relationship. I guess, today, I'm trying to say that relationship is important. And on the cross God shined the light of the world to show us that relationship. A heavenly Father who loves His Son. A Son that knows His Father loves Him, and is well pleased in Him. A Father that loves His Son and has given all things into His hands. So, because of that relationship, we don't need to get anything. We already have everything. We simply need to receive what we've already been given. We need to know and believe that we have what we need. That we ARE who we need to be. And, again, that takes us out of the mindset of trying to be someone we're not in order to get something we haven't got. When you know who you are, you can BE who you are. When you know you've been transformed--conformed into the image of God's Son--you can BE transformed by the renewing of your mind. When you know who you are you can embrace who you are. And you can embrace others for who THEY are. That's the other part of receiving--releasing. But we'll get there. First things first. You can't give what you don't have. And you can only give what you do have. So you need to KNOW what you have. You have to receive what you've been given. And here's the key: "Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you" (Matthew 6:31-33). Point being, don't chase after the worldly stuff. Seek the Kingdom. Not because you don't have it, but because you DO have it. Because you ARE it. "For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him" (2 Corinthians 5:21). This kingdom that we seek, this righteousness that we seek... its us. Its me and you. When we find this kingdom, this righteousness, in ourselves and in each other, that's when we can have that love relationship. The deep calls out to the deep. The light in me connects to the light in you. And it flips the script on the relationship dynamic. We stop trying to get things from each other, and we start giving things (and, more importantly OURSELVES) to each other. We don't just receive AND release. We receive BY releasing. Giving what we've got. The love that we've got. The love that we ARE!