Stand Fast part 5
Standing fast in your liberty means holding onto it for dear life. Look at 1 Timothy 6:12, "Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses." And this is how I look at that--we have already been given eternal life, right? That's not something we need. That's something we have. That's the gift of God. He gave us that when He gave us His only begotten Son. Because eternal life is Jesus's life, right? The everlasting, eternal, abundant, Resurrection Life of God. That's the gift we've been given. The trick is to lay hold of it. To receive it and release it. To receive it BY releasing it. To breathe it in and breathe it out. And that's why it's called the good fight of FAITH. Believing that what God says is true... is true... is how we experience that gift we've already been given. It's not about getting. Love is never about getting. Because love is giving. You can give without loving, but you can't love without giving. So we need to make sure we're focused on the right thing. Have faith in God. That's what Jesus said (Mark 11:22). Which means have faith in love. Because God IS love. Love is what freedom and liberty truly means. Not freedom TO sin, but freedom FROM sin. Freedom TO love. Love is our nature. Our natural state of being. Love is what allows us to experience life to the fullest. Love is what makes this abundant life... abundant. Love is what it's all about. That's what I'm trying to say. So in order to stand fast in our liberty, we must cling to love like the life raft that it is. We must prioritize love over everything else. Which DOESN'T mean, by the way, that we stop working or taking care of our responsibilities. Working hard for the people in your life is a labor of love. Giving. Giving everything you are and everything you have. So don't think rest means inactivity. It doesn't. It means Holy Spirit directed activity. And the Holy Spirit only ever directs us to love. Because the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of love. Do you see a theme here? It's all about love. Standing fast--or laying hold of--your freedom and liberty is all about USING that freedom and liberty. Using it for what it truly is. Not for an opportunity to the flesh, but for opportunity to the Spirit. Letting what's truly inside come out by knowing and believing it's in there. We fight (and win) the good fight of faith by believing the truth. The ultimate truth of the universe says, "God is love and He loves you." It's that simple. When you know that and believe that... you can give that. You can let what's inside come out. You can hold fast to that truth--that love--no matter what anybody else is doing. It's not your job to police people. It's your job to love people. Sometimes that means from a distance. Sometimes that means even when they're doing something you don't like. Because it's not always about you. It's not about getting what you want. It's about giving what you've got. When you're free from trying to get... that's when you can give. When you know the truth you're free from the lie. When you know what you've got you can give what you've got! And that's how this life really works. Hold on to love... by giving it away. Stand on love... by walking with people. Stand fast in your liberty and don't let anything or anybody shake you.