Receive part 5
You have to receive in order to have something to release. Because you can't earn it. Let me say that again: You CAN'T earn it. "Not of works, lest any man should boast" (Ephesians 2:9). Its not about what we can do. Its about what God can do in us, and through us, and as us. Its about what LOVE can do in us, and through us, and as us. If we have anything to boast about... its God. Our Savior. The One who gave us everything when we had absolutely nothing to offer Him. The One who died for us when we were yet sinners. That's important to understand because God doesn't want anything FROM us. He only wants the best FOR us. So we can stop trying to earn from Him... and we can stop trying to pay Him back. I think sometimes we get this idea of "I owe God everything." Which is true. But then we twist it into, "I have to somehow make myself worthy of everything He's given me." And that's when we wear ourselves slap out. Trying to impress God. Trying to be a "good" Christian. Or, worse yet, a "super" Christian. Christian means, "Christ-like" right? So its kind of either or. And by that I mean you either KNOW you're like Him, or you don't KNOW it. Because you ARE like Him. Made in His image. Conformed to the image of His Son on the cross. Jesus is your true identity. God in the flesh. Love in a body. God in YOUR flesh. Love in YOUR body. The true you. The inner man. The hidden man of the heart. And, through the cross, no longer hidden. On display. Love is on display in you. Every time the Word (which is Jesus, which is love) is made flesh. Everytime love becomes charity, or love in action. Every time we give what we've got. Because we have to first know what we've got. Know it and believe it. Receive it and release it. Let me say it another way, if I can, to close out this Rant series: "Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God" (1 Corinthians 2:12). Did you catch that? We have received the Spirit of God--the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth that leads and guides us into all truth--and that is what equips and empowers us to know everything else that we've been given. Freely given. Nothing earned. No mention of wages. Just the gift of God, which is eternal life. Jesus' abundant, everlasting, eternal, Resurrection Life of love. Remember we talked about the spirit of power, love, and a sound mind? Not the spirit of fear that keeps us from loving people, but the Spirit of love that, well, loves people! That's what its all about. That's what we've been given. Love. That's what we need to receive. Love. Not disqualifying ourselves. Not thinking we're not good enough. Not thinking, "Look at all the bad stuff I've done. Nobody could ever love me." God doesn't love because of what you've done or not done. God loves because of who you are. And who He is. A Father who loves His Son and is well pleased in Him. A Father who has given all things into His Son's hands. So let me end right here with Matthew 10:8, "Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give." The gift was freely given. It must be freely received, and freely given. Received and released. And, as we'll see in the next Rant series, we receive it BY releasing it!