Success! part 1
This Rant series is going to focus on a question that I'm sure, if you're anything like me, you've asked more than once in your life. Ready? Here it is: "What if love ISN'T enough?" And I know this is a hard question. Because, according to Paul's writings in 1 Corinthians 13:8 (NIV), "Love never fails..." And, if you're anything like me, that's an idea to build on. That's a foundational truth. Love never fails. Which, of course, means God never fails. Because God is love, right? So we can depend on Him. We can rely on Him. We can trust Him. Because love never fails. So where does my question come from? How could love not be enough? Well, in order to understand how love never fails, we need to understand love's goal. We need to define success. Look at Isaiah 55:11, "So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it." This assurance from God is the foundation for our foundation. Love never fails because it shall not return void. It shall accomplish that which the Lord pleases. And, really, this Old Testament Scripture came into fulness on the cross. So God's Word (which is Jesus, which is love) already accomplished what it set out to do. Which, according to Luke 12:32, is Daddy giving us the Kingdom. That's His good pleasure. That's what was accomplished when Jesus gave His life for us, and to us. He established the Kingdom. That's love's goal. The Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of Love. The place where the King rules and reigns. Which, of course, means that we are not only IN the Kingdom, but we ARE the Kingdom. Because the King rules, and reigns, and lives... in us. It's only when we get a carnal idea of what love is supposed to accomplish that we get all turned around and messed up. See, we think love is about getting. But it's not. Love is giving. For God so loved the world He GAVE His only begotten Son. It is Daddy's good pleasure to GIVE us the Kingdom. Sometimes it seems like the Word fails, like love is not enough, because we are expecting it to get us something. That idea of, "I'll scratch your back so that you'll scratch mine." That idea that if we love someone they will love us back. Which is a lovely idea, but not a true one. Sometimes love goes unreturned. Sometimes people question your motives. Or they refuse to believe that what you're doing is unselfish. Sometimes love seems to do the exact opposite of what you want it to do. But, again, that's because we're looking at it wrong. We're loving with conditions, or expectations. And that's not love at all. Love prospers in the thing that HE sent it to do. The thing which pleases HIM. Love isn't about getting anything. It's about giving what you've got. Receiving and releasing. Giving others what they need only and simply because they need it. That's true love, and that's the success OF love!