The Cost part 3
It costs something... to love somebody. But in the grand scheme of things, it's a small price to pay. Giving everything you have and everything you are is what you were put here to do. To be loved, and to love. To be known and to know. That's our purpose. That's why we were created. So anything less than that means that we are not living up to our full potential. We are not living this life to the fullest. See, there's a life we've settled for--going to work and buying stuff and paying taxes--but there is so much more to this gift of life we've been given. Specifically, in a Word, love. Love is what makes life worth living. And love is giving. One more time: Giving everything you have and everything you are. In order to love someone, it costs you your selfishness. It costs you getting, or doing, what YOU want. Until you understand the heart of God beating with love in your chest and come to the realization that what you REALLY want is to love people. Look at Acts 20:35, "I have shewed you all things, how that so labouring ye ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive." And as foreign as this concept seems... I can tell you from experience. It really is more blessed to give than to receive. I can remember some of the best stuff I've been given in my life. But I can remember ALL of the times I really blew someone's socks off by giving them what they needed. And I say "needed" because wants are one thing, but needs are something else. That look in someone's eye when they don't think there's any way they'll ever be able to get something, or do something, and then you hook them up. Man, that's priceless. Might have cost you. Might have cost you a lot. But in the grand scheme of things it was a small price to pay. Because worldly goods and possessions are fleeting. Like my mom always says: "Money? Just work and make more!" But using that money to give someone a life-changing experience... now we're talking. Even on a small scale. Giving someone food, or the money to buy food. What do we always say? You don't have to change the world. But if you love someone you will change their world. So if you'd rather be a miser, Scrooge McDuck, and swim in your pool of coins... have fun. Enjoy. But it's not worth it. God blesses us in order for us to be a blessing to others. To see a need and meet it. To live out of our abundance. He, in a very real sense, keeps the cost low. Even though it's everything we have and everything we are. He fills us up to overflowing so that we don't have to force it. He gives us everything that we need... so that we can give what we have. The key is our mindset. Keeping ourselves focused on things other than ourselves. Esteeming others higher than ourselves. Putting others first. Letting what's inside come out by focusing on what we have only in the sense of giving what we have. Doing what we can do... for others. Loving God by loving people. Letting Him love us and then loving Him back by loving each other. And, yes, you might not have as much "stuff." But that's not a bad thing--we'll really look at this tomorrow, probably--that's a good thing!