Self part 2
To understand that our "self" is really Jesus... He is our true self, the inner man, the hidden man of the heart... is what allows us to shift from being selfish to being selfless. As we saw yesterday, even Jesus Himself said, "I can of my own self do nothing." He was totally and completely dependent upon His Father. And that's the key to this whole thing: The affirmation of a Father will always equip and empower His Son. When Jesus was baptized and His heavenly Father spoke about Him being the beloved Son in whom He is well pleased... that's when Jesus started to do miracles. Because He was filled to overflowing with that love of God, and it came of out Him. Naturally. He knew (and believed) that He had something to give. One more time, the difference between being selfish--and always trying to get--and being selfless--and giving what you've got. You can't give what you don't have. And you can only give what you do have. So its important to KNOW what you have. You can't believe something you don't know. That's the Divine Order of things. Faith comes from hearing and hearing from the Word (Jesus, LOVE) of God. We hear that Word, "I love you," and then we believe that we are loved, and then we can love. We love because He first loved us. We love Him back by loving each other. But it all flows from the Father of lights. And, I gotta say right here, it took me longer than I would care to admit to figure out why James 1:17 referred to God that way. "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning." Father of lights... our heavenly Father... oh! Because WE are the light of the world! I figured it out... eventually. But the point is, every good and perfect gift comes from Him. Everything He expects FROM us, He first provides TO us. So this idea that we need to GET anything at all is just plain wrong. We have what we need. We are who we need to be. What would help us out tremendously is knowing what we have. Knowing who we are. I think people are still waiting for a move of God. God moved 2,000 years on the cross. We don't need a move of God. We need a revelation of Jesus. We need to know what happened when He moved, and what it means for us that He did move. And what it means for us is that we can be our true selves. On the cross God conformed us to the image of His Son. He gave us His Spirit so that we could cry out, "Abba, Father." So that we could know Him as He truly is, and know ourselves (and each other) as we truly are. On the cross the hidden man of the heart was revealed. And every time we act in love--every time the Word is made flesh--that hidden man of the heart is revealed. To us, and in us, and through us, and as us. And, because love is giving, we can only act in love by giving what we've got. By laying our lives down for our friends. By glady spending everything we have and everything we are no matter how people react to it. And I'm not saying you should try to cram your love down people's throats. I'm saying love them no matter what. Use wisdom and understanding. Build relationships. Love them in the way they need to be loved. By don't get discouraged if they don't pick up what you're laying down. Getting a reaction is not the point. Helping people is the point!