Sacrifice part 4
The best part of Jesus' sacrifice--laying His life down... giving it FOR us, and giving it TO us--is that He picked it back up again. That's why, and how, perfect love casts out fear. When we make that same sacrifice, and love each other as Jesus loved us, we aren't actually losing anything at all. The value of love is in the loving. In the giving. And what we find is, the more we try to get, the less we have. But the more we give, the more we have! Upside down and backwards, I know. Such is the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of Love. Only by sacrificing... by giving all we have and all we are... can we truly experience the love of God. Which is what eternal life is; knowing the one true God and the One whom He sent. Knowing the Father through the context of being His beloved Son in whom He is well pleased. That's what happened when Jesus picked His life back up. He ensured that we would be able to experience it. Not by us trying to be someone we're not, but by HIM living HIS abundant, everlasting, eternal, Resurrection Life in us, and through us, and as us. It's HIS sacrifice. HE made it 2,000 years ago on the cross. All we have to do is receive it and release it. Know it and believe it. Receive it BY releasing it. Give everything WE have and everything WE are. Because that's what Jesus did. Because that's who Jesus is. Because that's who WE really are. Jesus--God in the flesh, love in a body. God in OUR flesh, love in OUR body. His sacrifice didn't pay off an angry God. His sacrifice brought us out of death and into life. Look at 1 John 3:14, "We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death." We HAVE passed from death unto life. That happened. But we EXPERIENCE that life when we love each other. Not when we get something--because we already have it--but when we give something. Love is not about getting. Love IS giving. We have been GIVEN all things that pertain to life and godliness. We have been blessed with all spiritual blessings. He did it all so we could get it all. And now we have it all. But there's a difference between having something (and trying to hoard it up and keep it to yourself) and experiencing what you have (by sharing it, or giving it away). And that's the "sacrifice." It takes a leap of faith sometimes, to give away what you've got. But we know that we are connected to the unlimited source of love. Like I said, the more you give it away, the more you have it. Because you can experience it. Have you ever noticed how good it feels to see someone else's face light up when you literally love the hell out of them? It's better than when someone does the same thing for you. Or at the very least it's AS good. Because bringing joy to others is how we experience joy. It's a sacrifice in the sense of giving away what we've got. But it's not a burden. It's not sad. And sometimes it seems hard, but it doesn't have to be. We just need to see the sacrifice that WAS made and then we can love with that same love. Because while you can't give what you don't have... you CAN give what you DO have. When you know that you ARE loved... you can love. Because when you know that you are loved... you know that you are LOVE!