Stand Fast part 3
The best, and really the only, way to stand fast... is to make sure you're standing in, and on, the right thing. Look at Psalm 62:2 in the New Living Translation, "Truly he is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will never be shaken." That's pretty important. If you stand on the Rock (which is Jesus, which is love) you're standing on solid ground. You have a foundation that you can build on. Hebrews 12:28 (NLT), "Since we are receiving a Kingdom that is unshakeable, let us be thanful and please God by worshiping him with holy fear and awe." It's the truth about our response to God. He made the Way of Grace. We respond with the Walk of Faith. He brought every mountain low and every valley high. We respond by walking that straight and narrow path that leads to life. He is the Alpha and the Omega. The beginning and the end. It starts with Jesus--with love--and it ends (in as much as eternal life CAN end) with Jesus. With love. When you are standing on love you can stand fast. Love will hold you up, no matter what is trying to drag you down. That's why we can have an attitude of gratitude. That's why we can be thankful for what we have instead of always trying to get something we think we don't have. Listen. I mention this a lot. At my old church one of the things we would often say was, "I have no lack because my God has no lack." Putting the emphasis where it belongs. On Jesus. On who He is and on what He has given to us. For God so loved the world He gave His only begotten Son. God wanted the best for us, so He gave the best to us. He wanted us to experience love... so He filled us with His love. He gave us everything we would, or could, ever need in order to experience His abundant, everlasting, eternal, Resurrection Life of love. He gave us Himself. His Spirit. His heart. His kingdom. He gave us... love. Transformed us, from the inside-out, INTO love. Love is not just what we have. And it's not just what we do. It's who we are. That's the foundation that we stand on, and the foundation that we build on. It's all about love. If you're standing on love, nothing can knock you down, hold you down, or keep you down. If you're standing on love you can walk by faith and not by sight. If you're standing on love you can see everything underneath your feet. If you're standing on love you can experience love. By giving it away. Because love IS giving. I think a lot of times we think of standing firm or standing fast as being defensive. "This is my line and you can't cross it." But really it's about giving what we've got no matter what. Responding to God's gift--God's love--by giving it away. By sharing it. By receiving it and releasing it. Filling ourselves to overflowing with what God has already filled us with. Giving what we've got because we know we have it and we know it's too good and too big to keep to ourselves. That's what this life is for. That's what this life is all about. When we know where our safe place is, we can run TO God instead of running FROM Him. When we know what we have we can stop worrying about what we don't. Because what we have is all we will ever need. We have no lack because our God has no lack. And the ultimate truth of the universe is that God is love and He loves you. The Father loveth the Son and hath given all things into His hands. We have been equipped and empowered to live this life by letting God love us and loving Him back with that same love. Letting what's inside come out by knowing and believing it's in there. Giving what we've got because we know what we've got. Standing on that Rock and refusing to be shaken!