Stumbling Block part 5
When you stop stumbling and falling--through the power of God (the power of love) that is able to hold you up, it is then and only then that you can live in a way that keeps others from stumbling. Let me say it like this--if you have a weakness for drinking... you should probably avoid bars for a while before you try to start a ministry there. Like the airplane example I always use: Put your own oxygen mask on before you try to help someone else get theirs on. Because you aren't good to anybody if you're passed out on the floor. It's the idea--and the Divine Order--of receiving and releasing. First you have to receive... so that you have something to release. It's the idea of God blessing us so that we can be a blessing. Living out of our abundance. Letting God love us and then loving Him back by loving each other. Letting God take the stumbling blocks out of our road--and seeing that everything is under our feet. Seeing that He has brought every valley low and every mountain high so that the Way that leads to life is both straight and narrow. And don't think of that as a bad thing. If the Way is straight and narrow, that means it's easy to stay on course. AND, if we do get off course, there is a voice from behind us, the finished work of the cross, redirecting us. Leading us, guiding us, directing us, and protecting us. But what I'm trying to say is... once God has cleared your road... you can, and should, and ought to, help others with theirs. Receiving... and releasing. Breathing in the love of God, and then breathing it out. Letting the love inside you come out as you know and believe that it is in there. Filling yourself to overflowing with what you've already been filled with. That's the key--giving what you've got. By knowing and believing that you've got it. Letting God hold you up, and then, in HIS power, holding other people up. And, listen, it takes sacrifice. I'm not saying it doesn't. Giving everything you have and everything you are can, quite frankly, be terrifying. Being that vulnerable. Laying your life down for your friends. Because when you give what you've got, the "natural" reaction can be to worry about not having anything left. But the truth of the matter is: We are connected to the unlimited source of love. The God who IS love lives inside us. AND... love is giving. You don't lose it by giving it away. You experience it by giving it away. If you want to feel love... love somebody. Don't worry about what you don't have, just give what you do have. Don't worry about who or what you're not. Just be who you are. Embrace who you are and embrace others. Let people be who THEY are. That's key. Don't try to micromanage people. Don't try to change people. Just don't make it worse for them. Don't make it harder for them. In as much as it's within your power--live peacefully. Don't do things that will cause others to stumble. Care enough about your fellow man to not climb over them in order to get higher. Don't sacrifice others for your own selfish wants. Because, really, there are only two things that REALLY matter in this universe: God and people. Loving God and loving people. Loving God BY loving people. Letting Him love you and loving Him back by loving the people He puts in your path. And think about this, to end this Rant series, if God puts someone in your path... they aren't a stumbling block. They are either a lesson or a blessing. And either way you can love the hell out of them. That's the entire point of your whole life. Be loved, and love. Be known, and know. Walk without stumbling, and help those you come into contact with do that same!