Still part 4
There's an art to being still. Especially in the midst of a storm. But when you make your stand, and you are standing on the Rock that is God--that is LOVE--it gets a little bit easier. Because love cannot be shaken. Love lasts forever. Love endures. But what love DOESN'T do is demand its (HIS) own way. And that's where it gets a little bit tricky. Because we seem to view love through a lense of "deserve." When the truth of the matter is, deserve's got nothing to do with it. If you only love people who YOU think deserve it, then you really aren't loving ANYBODY at all. Because if there's one thing we, as a species, are good at... its disqualifying. Finding reasons why people--and, more tragically, ourselves--don't deserve good things. We want good things. We hope for good things. We try to earn good things. But at the end of the day we are with ourselves all of the time. We know the worst things we've ever done. And even if we don't specifically know the worst things other people have done... well... we can imagine. So we don't think ANYBODY deserves love. Certainly not the selfless, sacrifical, agape love of God. Even though the Bible makes a point of telling us just the opposite. "But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8). When God wanted to show us what He was all about--what LOVE is all about--He went to the cross and He gave His life for us. When we couldn't offer Him anything... He gave us everything. He didn't worry about whether or not we had earned it. He didn't worry about whether or not we deserved it. He just loved us. Plain and simple. Because that's not just what God does. That's who God is. That's His nature. And He gave that nature to us. When He gave His life FOR us, He also gave His life TO us. So that we could live His abundant, everlasting, eternal, Resurrection Life as HE lives it in us, and through us, and as us. And that's the key. We make our stand ONLY because He is the One who keeps us from falling. We can be still and know that He is God ONLY because He has given us His perfect peace. Philippians 4:7 says it like this, "And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." Did you catch that? His peace passes understanding. Its not supposed to make sense. When everything is falling to pieces but you KNOW that its really falling into Divine Order (or revealing itself to BE in Divine Order), that's when you can be still. That's when you can stop trying to fix everything. And I'm not saying you shouldn't ever try to fix things. Some things can only be fixed by YOU. Some people can only be reached by YOU. And in those cases, if you don't do it... who will? But don't try to do everything, or you won't be able to do anything. And the second thing I want us to see is that Jesus' perfect peace is what keeps our hearts and minds. His peace is what centers us, if I can say it that way. So we don't have to run around like chickens with our heads cut off trying to do it all. Or trying to be someone we're not. We can just be who we are. We can just be still. We can let the love that's inside of us come out. Naturally. I said there's an art to it. Well, the paint that makes that art is love. Love in all of its (HIS) colors, and shapes, and sizes. So be still. Know that HE is God. Let HIM keep your heart and mind. Let love do what it does and be who it (HE) is!