Stand Fast part 3
In order to stand fast in your liberty, your freedom, you must know that you are free. And you must know what it means to BE free. Not using your liberty for an occasion of the flesh, but using it to love people. Because that's what freedom is. To live is to love and to love is to live. To be free is to be free from sin--which is unbelief, which is to say that you incorrectly believe that God doesn't love you. If you are free FROM sin, and you believe that God loves you... that's when you are free TO love. Because the Divine Order of things is knowing and believing. Receiving and releasing. Letting what's inside come out by knowing and believing it's in there. Letting God fill you up, and then filling yourself up to overflowing with what He has filled you up with. When you're loving people, you're living free. See, it's not about getting away with stuff. That's the absolute wrong mindset. If your goal is to get away with stuff--that you know you shouldn't be doing in the first place--you need a new goal. Look at 1 Corinthians 10:23, "All things are lawful for me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but all things edify not." My grandpa said it this way, "You can do whatever you want... as long as you're willing to pay the consequences." Which is to say we CAN do whatever we want. Especially as adults. Especially in America. But that doesn't mean you SHOULD do anything and everything. They talk about setting a goal and then making sure everything you do serves that goal, right? Doing things on purpose. For purpose. By purpose. Living that old purpose driven life. And, as simply as I can put it, our purpose is to love one another. I do that, in large part, through my writing. And by spending what limited time I have with the people I love. But we can all find ways to let people know we care. Sometimes even just checking in on someone is enough. The little things that ARE the big things. And, again, that's how we stand fast in our freedom. That's how we exercise and enjoy our freedom. Not by doing what we know we shouldn't be doing--that's just putting ourselves, and keeping ourselves, in bondage--but by doing what we were created to do. Doing what God created us to do. He made you... you. Specificially. Because He wanted what you've got to be in the world. So don't deny the world your unique flavor of love. Don't let a fear of what freedom isn't stop you from experiencing what freedom is. Don't let people try to conform you to what they think you're supposed to be. Don't use freedom to "fall from grace" and put yourself back up under the law. Use your freedom to be free. To live your best life by letting God love you and loving Him back by loving people. What you feed is what will grow. So if you focus on love... what you magnify in your life is what will manifest in your life. Know your limits. Know your purpose. Know who you are and be who you are. Be free. Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. His Spirit--He--lives in you! The truth has set you free and made you free. So be free. Stand fast in your freedom. Stand on the rock and you will not be shaken. Let God--let love--hold you up, and nothing can bring you down!