Stumble part 4
Look at 1 John 2:10. "He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him." That's about as simple as I can make it. If you're loving people, you're walking in the light. Walking by faith. If you're loving people, you're fulfilling your purpose in life. That's why you were created--to be loved by God and to love God back by loving people. It's really that simple. The problem we find ourselves getting into is when we get our priorities twisted. It's God and people, man. Loving God and loving people. Loving God BY loving people. We need to renew our minds. To repent. Which means to think differently about something in light of something else. We need to think differently about... everything. In light of the cross. We need to see things cross-eyed. We need to stop getting down on ourselves every time we mess up. The only true stumble is not loving. The only true sin is not believing. Jesus took away the sin of the world (again, unbelief) by giving us something (somONE, Himself, Love) to believe in. That's why one who is born of God cannot sin. It's not about all these actions. Your actions flow from your beliefs. What you believe--and I'm talking about what you REALLY believe--is what manifests in your life through your actions. I'm not saying your actions aren't important. They are. What you do matters. What you do has consequences--be they good, bad, or ugly consequences. What I'm saying is that behavior modification is a stop-gap at best. It doesn't bring true, lasting change. Because if you're only doing something (or not doing something) to avoid getting in trouble... that means your heart isn't right. Everything we do should be done heartily--to the best of our ability, and because it is in our heart to do it--unto the Lord. That means deserve doesn't have anything to do with anything. That means loving people no matter who they are or what they do. Giving everything we have and everything we are no matter what. That's what love is. Love is giving. Letting what's inside come out by knowing and believing it's in there. That's why we were created. And when we live that life of abundance... listen. Sometimes things won't go the way we think they should. Sometimes we love someone as hard as we can and it doesn't make any difference. Or it doesn't seem to make any difference. Sometimes all you can do is plant a seed. And you might not ever see that seed grow. That's ok. Some plant, some water, but it is God who gets the harvest. Don't worry about it. Just do your best and forget the rest. Just do what you can do. If you're acting out of love, you can't fail. If you're loving people... you're in the light. And if you're in the light, you can't stumble or fall. Jesus can, and will, keep you from falling. And He will pick you up if you do fall. It's not how hard you can hit. It's how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward. Life happens. People won't always accept you. That's ok. Just keep doing what you can do. The world needs you. It needs what you have and who you are. So don't get discouraged. Don't get down on yourself or beat yourself up. Just keep on keeping on. Just keep on loving people!